“He was clearly in a ton of pain. I’ve been here 10 years and I’ve seen Nate lay on the ice twice. I’ve seen him leave a couple games, one in the playoffs against San Jose a couple of years ago and last night and still come back and it’s not a great feeling for a team. For him to be able to come back out, get some work done late in the second period and intermission and to be able to come back and help us on the power play and empty-net situations, if that’s all he can do, then we’ll take it. It’s better than anything else we can put on the ice, in my opinion. It just shows his character, his leadership and desire to win.”
MacKinnon had 127 points in the regular season (53 goals, 74 assists) in 80 games and finished third in the NHL behind Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (138 points; 48 goals, 90 assists) and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov (130 points; 44 goals, 86 assists).
The 30-year-old has two assists through the first three games of the conference final. He has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 15 games when Colorado is facing elimination. The Avalanche are 7-8 in those games.
“Everyone has to step up, I think that’s the key,” Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri said. “Collectively we have the depth to do that, and I think we have multiple guys in this dressing room that can be that guy and that can step up in big moments, so this is no different.”
Valeri Nichushkin will be a game-time decision after the forward sustained a lower-body injury late in the second on Sunday. He has four points (two goals, two assists) in 12 games this postseason.
“We’ll see,” Bednar said.
