NHL rescinds penalty for Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche had a major penalty recently rescinded by the NHL.

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MacKinnon was given a five-minute major penalty in addition to a 10-minute misconduct for interference on the goaltender in the Avalanche’s 4-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on March 10. With less than a minute left to play in the middle frame and with Colorado on the power play, MacKinnon drove hard toward the net but got knocked off course by Oilers’ defenseman Darnell Nurse. As a result, MacKinnon barreled straight into Edmonton goaltender Connor Ingram, knocking him down on the ice. Ingram’s forehead was bleeding, and he was thus forced to exit the game.

The Avalanche disagreed with the call, with Head Coach Jared Bednar saying postgame that the penalty should not have been originally given out.

“There’s no chance that he hits the goalie if Nurse doesn’t run into him,” Bednar said per ESPN. “I don’t care if he’s injured or not injured, it’s a severe crash or not a severe crash. It’s not a penalty. If you put guys in your own goalie, it’s not a penalty … The goalie’s hurt, so it’s five [minutes]? I really don’t give a crap if their goalie’s hurt. That’s on their D-men, not on our guy.”

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Nathan MacKinnon reveals NHL rescinded recent major penalty

The Avalanche would go on to kill off the five-minute major given to MacKinnon but eventually lost the game on a power-play goal by Oilers star Connor McDavid in the third period.

According to MacKinnon, the league has since rescinded the major penalty.

This latest development from the NHL is noteworthy, as a player is not allowed to receive two major penalties in a certain number of games, or else that player will receive an automatic suspension. As a result of the rescission, this will no longer be a concern for MacKinnon.

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Defenseman Cale Makar said MacKinnon in known amongst his teammates on the ice for his spatial awareness.

“Nate’s got some of the best spatial awareness in the league,” Makar said. “He’s not going to cut into the goalie like that. Explanation we got from the refs was that [Nurse] didn’t nudge him enough.”

MacKinnon currently has 104 points on the season across 43 goals and 61 assists. He also helped Canada to the silver medal in the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, losing 2-1 to Team USA in overtime.

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