Nathan MacKinnon remains a Martian.

And with that reaffirmation, Avs fans streamed out of Ball Arena on Thursday knowing that with one of the best forwards in the world wearing a burgundy and blue sweater, Colorado could go as far this season as No. 29 will take them.

The Avs beat Utah, 2-1, in Colorado’s 2025-26 home opener and the first game the visitors used their Mammoth moniker. MacKinnon had the game-winning power-play goal early in the third period, while Scott Wedgewood played outstanding in net, stopping 32 shots while prompting “Wedg-ie” chants throughout the game.

“We really needed that (from MacKinnon),” Avs center Ross Colton said. “The power play was struggling a little bit there, so anytime we can get momentum with that it’s huge. It (permanently) shifted the game in our favor.”

That added up to an auspicious 2-0 start to the season, after Colorado throttled the Kings 4-1 in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The first two periods on Thursday were back-and-forth, but MacKinnon broke the stalemate early in the final period with a highlight goal — his first lamp-lighter of the year — that had the sold-out home crowd roaring.

Colorado’s other world-class player, defenseman and reigning Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar, laid the groundwork for MacKinnon’s goal. Makar took the puck up ice before dealing a backwards pass to Martin Necas — a talented forward acquired via trade last season who is another reason for early optimism by Avs faithful.

Necas took the puck down near the bottom of the faceoff circle, passed it back to Makar along the boards, and then Makar found MacKinnon skating to a slice of open space in the circle between three Utah defenders. MacKinnon proceeded to uncork a wrist shot to the top right corner that no goalie on earth had a prayer to stop.

“He came down and picked a corner (of the net),” Colton said. “That’s world-class.”

From there, Wedgewood and the Colorado defense did the rest, including snuffing out an ensuing Utah power play. During that penalty kill, Wedgewood had a a couple more impressive saves, including gloving a wrister off the stick of J.J. Peterka in a one-on-one situation.

Before McKinnon’s heroics, the Avs struck first midway through the opening period.

Samuel Girard’s slick off-the-boards pass from the Colorado defensive zone found the stick of Victor Olofsson just past the Utah blue line. From there, the Avs were perfectly coordinated. Olofsson zipped a pass cross-ice to Jack Drury in the opposing face-off circle, then Drury completed the tic-tac-toe by passing back to Colton zooming down the center of the ice.

“I saw Ross before I got it… and Ross was ready to shoot, so it made my decision pretty easy,” Drury said.

Colton buried the open look with a slap shot into the right side of the net, easily beating Mammoth goalie Karel Vejmelka.

Meanwhile, throughout the first period and for much of the second, Wedgewood made the absence of Mackenzie Blackwood (who didn’t play in the preseason and remains sidelined as he continues to rehab from injury) feel like no big deal.

“I’ve just been confident coming into the season, confident here last year when I got here (via a trade),” Wedgewood said. “It’s a fun team to play behind and my game’s in a good spot. Mentally, I’m in a good spot. It’s nice when it all comes together. Not every night is going to be perfect, but two games, one goal is a nice way to get going.”

Wedgewood turned away several Utah chances in the first, stopping 10 shots, and then carried that heater into the second. He made a couple saves sliding across the crease, and also turned away a would-be goal with a flashy leg save.

But Wedgewood finally cracked in the waning minutes of the second period, just four seconds after Utah went on the power play due a slashing penalty on Parker Kelly. Nick Schmaltz won a faceoff, then Clayton Keller gathered the puck just outside the circle and sent it over to Dylan Guenther, who was standing open a few feet in front of the blue line.

Guenther’s slap shot beat Wedgewood on the middle left shelf to even the game, 1-1. Avs head coach Jared Bednar lamented Colorado’s puck mismanagement that led to that goal.

“(We were) not moving in the second period, and lots of turnovers in the neutral zone,” Bednar said. “We kind of got going a little bit at the end of the first, then in the second we got cute with it. Stopped putting pucks in (their zone), stopped forechecking… we gave them way too many rush chances. Most of their scoring chances came off our turnovers.”

But that Guenther goal was all the scoring that Utah would muster as they played their season opener under the banners of Ball Arena’s Colorado Mammoth, the two-time National Lacrosse League champions.

“We don’t win without (Wedgewood) tonight, for sure,” Bednar said. “I don’t like leaning on our goalie like that, but it didn’t look like we had a lot of jump tonight. I thought they had much more jump than we did… we had to find a way to grind through it, and on those nights you need your goalie big-time.”

Originally Published: October 9, 2025 at 10:00 PM MDT