In Denver Sunday night, Nathan MacKinnon struck twice and had three points in the Colorado Avalanche 5-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
For Detroit it was their 10th straight loss.
The Avs are two points clear of the Los Angeles Kings for the first wild card spot in the 
Western Conference.
“For me, if we get in the playoffs, he’s (MacKinnon ) the MVP,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I can’t imagine there’s another player that means more for their team and is doing more for their team than what Nate’s doing for us. That’s just the way I see it. I mean, he is the driving force to our offense. ”
Semyon Varlamov made 37 saves to pick up the win for the Avs who improved to 39-25-8.
“I’ve been impressed with this team for quite some time, what they’re doing,” Bednar said. “I don’t know how many people picked us to be where we are right now. For our guys, the age of our group, the inexperience of our group, it’s pretty impressive what they’re doing. That speaks to the leadership in the room.”
Blake Comeau, Gabriel Landeskog and Tyson Barrie also had goals for the Avs.
Justin Abdelkader had the lone Detroit goal in the loss.
“Very frustrated, for sure,” Abdelkader said. “Losing 10 in a row, it’s not fun. You just have to dig in and continue to come to work each day and compete as hard as you can. Just got to find a way to keep [pucks] out of our net and score more than them.”
[WATCH: All Red Wings vs. Avalanche highlights]
Jared Coreau made 26 saves in taking the loss.
“Everyone cares, everyone wants to win. We really do care. Fans back at home are just as frustrated as we are. We want to win just as bad or more than they do. We just have to stay positive,” Coreau said after the loss.
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