Reading that Rantanen thread on the main board has me thinking just how crazy that top lines chemistry is.
For Landeskog and Rantanen, it is amazing they can do such a good job of always keeping up with MacKinnon. To MacK’s credit, he does a good job of bringing them into the play, but still. MacKinnon would be such a hard player to play with and they make it look so easy. He skates so fast, and passes the puck so hard always last second, and they’re always ready.
Rantanen has a “wheelhouse” that seems to be any puck within 3 feet of him, whether it is rolling or sits flat. MacKinnon just has to put the puck in his general area, and he gets a good shot off.
Landeskog has turned into Mr. Clutch and seems to score all these random goals when the line is struggling. He also takes a beating every game retrieving pucks for the other two, and crashing the net. I also think he doesn’t get enough credit for being the “3rd wheel” but there is no selfishness in his game, and that in itself is a special trait. Multimillion dollar egos and this guy can accept the role of “scrub” on the line. Everything is MacKinnon/Rantanen in the media, but it doesn’t change how Landeskog plays at all.
Lastly, MacKinnon is just so special. He is playing in the NHL like he did against kids in junior. He’s obviously the driver on that line and gets the most credit, and for good reason. He is a torpedo up the Center of the ice, and everyone can just jump in his wake.
We are just so lucky as Avs fans to see this coming together. For reference, Duchene was the big gift to Avs fans coming out of “Sakic’s era.” Mikko Rantanen is 12 points from matching Duchene’s career high, and the Avs haven’t even played game 36 yet.
Ridiculous.