DENVER — Nathan MacKinnon scored three of his four goals consecutively in the second period for a natural hat trick and added an assist to help the Colorado Avalanche beat the Washington Capitals 6-2 on Wednesday night.
MacKinnon, the NHL scoring leader with 82 points, had his second four-goal game of the season and eighth career hat trick. He ran his home points streak to 24 to break a tie with Joe Sakic for the franchise record.
Mikko Rantanen had a goal and four assists for his first five-point game, Cale Makar set the franchise record for goals by a defenseman with his 76th and Alexandar Georgiev made 23 saves.
MacKinnon selflessly ceded a chance for a hat trick Saturday in Philadelphia, passing to Logan O’Connor so he could get his first.
MacKinnon didn’t pass up the opportunity Wednesday, scoring three times in 6:37 span of the second period. The first two were one-timers on the power play. On the third, he deked Charlie Lindgren and beat him with a backhander at 9:16 for just the second natural hat trick since the franchise moved to Colorado in 1995. Sakic had the other one, March 13, 2003, at Columbus.
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Lindgren stopped 27 shots and Dylan Strome had two goals for Washington. The Capitals have lost three straight, falling 5-3 at Minnesota on Tuesday night.
The Capitals outshot the Avalanche 8-2 to open the game but didn’t take advantage of their first two power plays. Instead, Makar scored his first regular-season short-handed goal late in the first.
UP NEXT
Capitals: At Dallas on Saturday night.
Avalanche: Host Los Angeles on Friday night.
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