DENVER — Nathan MacKinnon was about to explain the reasons for his fantastic season when Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog cut him off.
“Better linemates,” offered Landeskog.
Landeskog is slightly biased, since he skates on MacKinnon’s left wing. But the Avalanche’s leading scorer also agreed with that assessment.
“I think it’s progression and a bit of both,” said the 22-year-old MacKinnon. “Obviously we’ve been fortunate to have chemistry as a team, and especially our line has been really dominant this season. It’s nice. My previous seasons, we’ve had to mix and match lines in order to develop chemistry and that’s a big part of succeeding in this league is building chemistry with your linemates.