It wouldn’t be outrageous to conclude that Nathan MacKinnon had an extra chip on his shoulder on Thursday following an ejection in the Avalanche’s last game.

MacKinnon made the Seattle Kraken pay, recording a goal and three assists in a 5-1 Colorado victory at Climate Pledge Arena. The superstar centerman added to his league leading goal totals (44) and pulled to within two points of Connor McDavid for the most in the league (108).

Martin Necas had a goal and an assist, Devon Toews had two helpers, Nic Roy tallied on the power play, and Nazem Kadri scored his first goal in an Avalanche sweater since overtime of Game 4 in the 2022 Stanley Cup Final.

The Avs (44-11-9) gained a five-point cushion on the Dallas Stars for the top seed in the Central Division with a game in hand.

In goal, Scott Wedgewood made 28 saves to improve to 5-0 since the Olympic break. Wedgewood also recorded his 25th win of the season, putting him in a three-way tie for the fifth most in the NHL.

The top line of MacKinnon, Necas, and Kadri wasted little time putting the Avs ahead. Just 3:45 into the first, Necas recorded his 30th of the season off a feed from MacKinnon that was touched by Toews before reaching Necas. He became Colorado’s third forward to reach the 30-goal mark, joining MacKinnon and Brock Nelson.

Necas later returned the favor to MacKinnon with a beautiful setup of his own. The star winger entered the zone with speed and sent a cross ice pass to MacKinnon, who tried to find Kadri in front. Instead, it deflected of Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson and beat goalie Joey Daccord to make it 2-0 at 12:54.

Late in the period, Necas was clipped by Jordan Eberle’s stick, drawing a four minute power play. And on the first part of the PP, Roy scored to open a 3-0 lead at 18:48.

The Kraken pulled Daccord at the intermission as Philipp Grubauer came in to replace him in the second. Grubauer gave up two on just 11 shots after Daccord faced 15.

The only goal Seattle scored was shorthanded, and it came from Ryker Evans on the only other penalty the Kraken were whistled for. Colorado has struggled on the power play seemingly all year, and allowing shorthanded goals has been a large part of that.

Before the period ended, Kadri redirected a point shot from Sam Malinski to make it 4-1. Joel Kiviranta added the Avs’ fifth goal in the third, scoring his sixth in his last five games against the Kraken.

Good: An Easy Game

After three tough games in a row against Dallas, Minnesota, and Edmonton, the Avs needed this one to be a little easier than those were.

In Dallas, they fought back late and won in a shootout. Against the Wild, they again needed a late goal in regulation to even the score before winning in a shootout. And against the Oilers, Colorado lost by a goal. This one was nowhere as close as those were.

Head coach Jared Bednar was able to distribute ice time among all 11 forwards and seven defensemen who dressed. Makar was the only defenseman who played more than 20 minutes, finishing at 21:01. Up front, Necas eclipsed 22 minutes, MacKinnon was a shade under 21, while Valeri Nichushkin, Nelson, and Kadri all finished with less than 20.

That’s what happens when you lead by three before the first intermission.

Bad: Shorthanded Goals

I’m almost positive that I wrote about this two games ago when Nico Sturm nearly sank the Avs with a shorthanded go-ahead goal for Minnesota in the third period of a 1-1 game.

Here we are again, and the Avs gave up another shorthanded goal. This one didn’t matter quite as much as the one Sturm scored, but it’s still insanely concerning that this continues to happen.