Keeler: While Broncos, Nikola Jokic own Denver’s eyeballs, Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon quietly putting up best season in Colorado history

Even in Low Power mode Nathan MacKinnon never lost the signal I was OK the Avalanche center revealed through tired eyes after scoring twice against Vancouver late Tuesday night Yeah it s been a grind Montreal last Saturday was Hell Tuesday was a little better Just tired Just tired Even while battling an undisclosed malady MacKinnon s flying under the radar at about Mach right now As the Front Range obsesses over a - Broncos association and the Nuggets sudden indifference to defense Nasty Nate is quietly painting his professional masterpiece across Ball Arena s frozen canvas MacKinnon s points over his first games are a career best so far He s on a pace to put up points which would obliterate his own Avs single-season record of set in the spring of No Colorado competitor not Joe Sakic not Peter Forsberg has ever put up points through the season s first games before Only one Nordique ever opened a regular season hotter than this fall s MacK Attack Peter Stastny collected points through his first appearances of the - season I don t know He s OK captain Gabriel Landeskog who s also been under the weather quipped after the Avs - win with tongue planted firmly inside his cheek No MacKinnon has been I mean he s super dynamic He s creating in a lot of different tactics off the rush in the zone off the cycle he commands the attention on that power play and is able to kind of dictate what we end up doing So he s just very poised looks calm out there in control and obviously he s got the same tremendous speed he s inevitably had he s shooting the puck well So a lot of things are going well for him Over his last four games MacKinnon s scored five times collected nine points and posted a combined plus- in the plus minus column Consider this Tuesday was his seventh multi-goal contest of a relatively young season And that total is already just one fewer eight than MacKinnon s multi-goal nights over the entirety of - Oh and did we mention he s been sick for majority of of that stretch We did Cripes MacKinnon looks better with two bars on his G meter these days than bulk of his NHL peers do with four or five Despite feeling like hot garbage the Avs star kept his head on a swivel while keeping the Canucks on their collective heels So obviously Nate was one of the guys in the locker room that was sick revealed Colorado coach Jared Bednar whose - - squad opens a four-game road swing at the Islanders on Thursday I don t think he was at his best against Vancouver on the checking side of it because that takes a lot of strength and a lot of hard work But here s the thing You don t have to make every play But you have to make certain big plays So that s what Nate can do Even when he s not at his best he still obviously has the ability and he stays focused enough on doing the right things to make a play or two that can be difference-making plays for you And that s what he did Tuesday The Avs started sluggishly against the Canucks until MacKinnon gave the hosts a swift kick up the caboose The Colorado vet wristed a rebound past goaltender Kevin Lankinen from the left face-off circle with seconds left in the first period a count that got the Avs off their collective duffs and onto the scoreboard MacK The Knife s second goal though was the one that proved to be the dagger As Colorado led - with seconds remaining in the second stanza MacKinnon chased down a loose puck in Vancouver s zone and gently tipped it in the direction of Landeskog who suddenly zipped past Nasty Nate s right shoulder When happened next was like never left While Landy curled into the face-off circle two Vancouver defenders trailed him the way a tail follows a comet During a mad scramble the Canucks somehow decided to leave NHL s points leader free to drift all alone until he d settled on a firing position in the slot Landeskog didn t mess around and MacKinnon didn t miss launching a lasered one-timer into the twine for the Avs third and decisive goal of the contest I mean the challenge was all right the Colorado center reflected later We re not gonna number first every night Yeah it definitely wasn t our best It was just kind of a boring championship a lot of whistles a lot of icings it was just one of those nights Just a muck Even a bug couldn t spoil Nate s Mucky Day The masterpiece marches east lamps lighting the way For a sick puppy the dawg in MacKinnon would sooner play dead than ever phone it in