WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Darcy Kuemper know better than anyone else living in the nation’s capital what Nathan MacKinnon can do with a puck. They were witnesses to his brilliance for one season, the longest season of his career at that. The season he went coast-to-coast for a playoff hat trick. The season he joined them in hoisting the Stanley Cup.
Aube-Kubel and Kuemper received their Avalanche championship rings after the game against their former team here Saturday night. An hour or so earlier, as if to remind them of their season in Colorado, they were once again nothing more than witnesses to MacKinnon’s mastery.