from Mike Chambers of the Denver Post,

Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon on Wednesday had a team-high 29 shifts and logged 20:04 of ice time, tops among forwards, in a 3-1 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers.

He played on all four lines and had the game-winning assist on Mikko Rantanen‘s first goal. MacKinnon and Rantanen, both 2018-19 NHL All-Stars, usually play together but they didn’t begin that way against the Flyers, who must have thrown in the towel as far as matchups were concerned midway through the first period.

MacKinnon, the NHL’s third-leading scorer, is on pace to shatter his career-best 99-point season of 2018-19. He is the one player opponents try to shut down offensively. But that’s becoming harder these days because of his unpredictable presence — just the way Colorado coach Jared Bednar likes it.

“It makes it tough for a team to just check him with certain guys, or a certain D-pair,” Bednar said Thursday after an optional skate. “The flip side on our side is, when you spot Mac into a line and juggle things around a little bit, even it’s just for a shift or two, those other players are really excited to go out on the ice with him because they know he can help make them better and that they can be difference-makers in the game right then and there on that particular shift.”

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