Who would have thought that Matt Nieto would have more goals than Nathan MacKinnon AND Mikko Rantanen combined at any point in the season, much less nine games?
Well, it's a fact, Jack.
Nieto, a healthy scratch in five games, scored his first goals of the season -- converting all three of his shots Tuesday -- and completed his first NHL hat trick with an empty-net goal to secure the Avalanche's 5-3 win against Dallas at the Pepsi Center.
MacKinnon also had three shots but was left off the scoresheet, other than his minus-3 rating while losing seven of 10 faceoffs. Rantanen had one shot, was minus-1 and lost four of seven draws. Fellow linemate Sven Andrighetto had two shots and was minus-3.
While Andrighetto is one of six Avalanche forwards with three goals, MacKinnon and Rantanen each have one. MacKinnon scored Oct. 17 in Nashville when a shot bounced into the net off Predators defenseman Roman Josi. Rantanen hasn't scored since his power-play goal against the New York Rangers in the season opener.
"I think it's going to come, I feel like my play's been solid," said MacKinnon, who stayed on the ice to shoot Wednesday after a brief practice. "I've created a lot of chances for myself and others. It'll come. I trust my game. I feel like I've done a lot of good things. There's room for improvement.
"I'll be honest if I play well or not. I've talked to the staff and people around me, and they're honest with me. I'm honest with myself and I feel it's going to come."
The first overall pick in the 2013 NHL draft, MacKinnon won the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year in 2013-14 when he had 24 goals, 39 assists and 63 points in 82 games, all of which remain career highs. He added two goals and eight assists in seven playoff games against Minnesota.
His numbers have since slipped: 14 goals and 38 points in 64 games in 2014-15 (a fractured foot cost him the final 18 games); 21 goals and 52 points in 72 games in 2015-16; and 16 goals and 53 points in 82 games last season.
MacKinnon, who has four assists, has just 17 shots on goal; eight teammates, six of them forwards, have more shots.
"(Goals) are obviously important," said MacKinnon, who had six goals and nine assists in 10 games for Canada in the 2017 World Championships. "It's going to come. It's a long season, we have (73) games left and I just want to keep grinding and keep doing the right things. I know it's going to come.
"It's our responsibility to score as a top line or (as one of) two top lines, but if we're going to win we're going to need depth to step up and (others) have been great all season. It's obviously good when we're not lighting it up now that we have guys stepping up. We haven't had that in years past. Those guys are playing really good, and it's good for our team."
MacKinnon and his linemates have been matched up against opponents' top lines a large chunk of the time. That was the case Tuesday playing against the Stars' always dangerous Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. But coach Jared Bednar, who didn't address the media Wednesday, after the game credited the Nieto-Carl Soderberg-Blake Comeau line of doing a better job.
That line combined for eight points (three goals, five assists), eight shots and a plus-10.
"It's a challenge," MacKinnon said. "If we're not on our 'A' game defensively they can eat you up. (Seguin and Benn) were really good last night too. They brought their 'A' game and we were swimming a little bit in the D-zone. We should have grinded a little bit more. We were trying to pass a little too much.
"I think we were not being aggressive enough at times and that's going to lead to turnovers when we're backchecking and playing a lot of D-zone. We need to be better. It is tough playing against -- Benn's one of the best players in the world and (Seguin) is right up there. No excuse, we're not going to play against those guys every night; teams don't have those players."
Benn had a goal, two assists and was plus-2. Seguin had two assists and was plus-1.