Nathan MacKinnon joins a prestigious group of former Nordics

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It's not the way, but the result that counts for Lars Eller. The former Montreal Canadiens scored another bizarre goal in the Colorado Avalanche's 5-1 win over the Red Wings on Saturday in Detroit. 

The Danish veteran, acquired from the Washington Capitals before the trade deadline, seems to be enjoying his new colors. After taking advantage of the generosity of a linesman to score a controversial goal against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, Eller did it again in the game of the day. 

At the start of the third twenty, the “Avs” were already leading by two goals when they found themselves in a situation of numerical disadvantage. Eller fell awkwardly into puck possession as he entered the Wings zone, but got up and gave the puck to Valeri Nichushkin. The once-traded Jaroslav Halak pounced on his Russian teammate's return to score his ninth goal of the season.

Unsurprisingly, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar led the charge for the troop of Jared Bednar the rest of the meeting. The former scored his 30th goal of the campaign and had two assists, while the latter had three assists.

MacKinnon thus became the fifth player in the history of the Avalanche and the Quebec Nordiques to score five seasons with 30 goals or more. Joe Sakic, Peter Stastny, Michel Goulet and Milan Hejduk preceded him.

Devon Toews, Bowen Byram and Mikko Rantanen also deceived the vigilance of Ville Husso. The Finnish goaltender was sent to the showers after allowing five goals on 21 shots.

Pius Suter replied for the Red Wings, losing eight of their last 10 meetings.

< strong>A terrible loss for the “Preds”

In Nashville, the Predators went down 3-2 in a shootout against the Winnipeg Jets, but mostly lost the services of their captain and most valuable player, Roman Josi.

The Swiss defenseman left the game after the first period for an unknown reason. He had played 10 min 6. during this engagement and we did not see him again afterwards.

Recipient of the Norris Trophy in 2020, Josi is the undisputed leader of the “Preds”. After a 96-point campaign last year, he has 59 in 66 games in 2022-23.

After missing his last six games with an upper-body injury , Quebecer Pierre-Luc Dubois made a successful comeback by setting the stage for the winning goal, scored by Neal Pionk in overtime.

Nikolaj Ehlers and Adam Lowry also put their two cents in the Jets, who now have a five-point lead over the Predators among teams drafted in the West.

Cody Glass and Luke Evangelista flickered the red light in a losing cause.