With the injuries the Avalanche are battling both at forward and on the blue line, they are leaning harder than ever on their top pair and top line: Nathan MacKinnon is averaging 23 minutes per game this season and over 24 minutes per game since the start of December, including 30:22 in the team’s win over Boston last Monday. Mikko Rantanen is leading NHL forwards in TOI/game this season at 23:07, while Cale Makar is averaging 24:49 a night this season and 25:36 over his past 20 games.
During Colorado’s recent 8-1-1 stretch, MacKinnon has racked up 19 points and is playing 24:03 per game, Rantanen has averaged 24:42 per game while producing 13 points (but is a minus-six), and Makar has 11 points while averaging 26:34 (but is also a minus-six).