MacKinnon Breaks Gretzky Record, Penguins to Face Off Against the Ducks

The Colorado Avalanche (41-17-5) grabbed an OT win over the Detroit Red Wings (28-21-13) 3-2 on Thursday but stealing the headlines was the play by its rookie, Nathan MacKinnon.

With 31.4 seconds remaining in overtime, Andre Benoi scored the winning goal thanks to an assist by MacKinnon. This gave him a point for his 13th consecutive game and the opportunity to break Wayne Gretzky’s record streak as an 18-year-old league player. This had been set in the 1979-80 season.

Nathan MacKinnon

MacKinnon said of the accomplishment via the Associated Press, “It’s pretty cool.I want to be as consistent as possible. He probably doubled my point total in those games.”

To date, MacKinnon has 22 goals with 50 points over 63 games. He leads all NHL rookies and also has the honor of owning the longest rookie point streak since Paul Stastny of Colorado had 20 consecutive ones in 2007.

So what does MacKinnon have to do so surpass Gretzky? The hockey great completed his freshman season with 137 points and 51 goals.

As for the rest of Colorado’s evening, goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere had 35 saves and the team now has a four-game win streak going.

The Red Wings weren’t without their own storylines for the night as the team retired former player Nicklas Lidstrom’s No. 5 jersey prior to the start of the game.

Goalie Jimmy Howard had 22 saves as his team has suffered two straight losses. It still has its eyes on keeping its postseason streak alive at 23. The Red Wings sit in the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division (second in the Wildcard spot) and will seek a win against the New Jersey Devils (28-21-13) on Friday.

Detroit will succeed (-107, 5 o/u).

Looking ahead for Colorado, they’ll look to extend its win streak against the Central Division leader, the St. Louis Blues (42-14-6) on Saturday afternoon.

The Avalanche are 20/1 to win the 2014 Stanley Cup while the Blues are 5/1.

Penguins vs. Ducks

On Friday, two of the league’s top teams will hit the ice in the matchup between the Pittsburgh Penguins (41-17-4) at the Anaheim Ducks (43-14-6).

The Penguins sit at the top of the Eastern Conference while the Ducks lead the league for points.

Both will enter the game with recent meh play as the Ducks are 4-5-1 over in their 10 previous home games after a dominant 20-0-2 beginning. On Wednesday, they lost to the Montreal Canadiens (35-23-7), 4-3, in a shootout.

Not helping matters is a Ryan Getzlaf  slump. He is the team’s leader in points (68 points) but since the three games following the Olympic break, he has just one point. Playing at home isn’t a difference maker as he has a single goal and one assist over six games.

For the Penguins, they’ve been challenged on the defensive front, giving up 21 goals in a 1-2-2 period. This includes 11 of them over their current five-game road tour.

Sidney Crosby

In their Thursday loss to the San Jose Sharks (40-17-7), the Penguins had a 2-0 advantage in the first period before allowing three unanswered goals in the final period. They lost 5-3.

Sidney Crosby said of the game via the Associated Press, “We did a good job in the first half of the game and then made it easy for them in the second half of the game. Once they tied it at 3-3 they really came at us hard.”

Besides a loss for his team, Crosby had a career-low night with a minus-5 from one shot on goal. He does play well against the Ducks as in his two previous games, he has scored three goals and six points in as many games against Anaheim in his career.

Both teams want to bust out of their ruts and on Friday, the nod will go to Anaheim (-140, 5.5 o/u).