The Avalanche have been one of the best teams in the league, with several of their players littering the top of the NHL's leaderboards for goals and points throughout the year. In the Past month, no one's been better than one of the Avs' best players, and surprisingly, it isn't the one leading the league's season-long points race.
Dividends
Last year the Avalanche acquired Martin Necas from the Carolina Hurricanes as part of a three-way deal that sent Mikko Rantanen to Carolina by way of Chicago. Seemingly mostly a lateral move, Necas has instead become one the Avs' most consistent scorers and since the Olympics, has been leading the league in points since the Olympic Break finished. Necas leads all NHL players in points since Feb. 16, with 19 according to QuantHockey. Those 19 are good enough to beat out Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon, the league's leaders for the Art Ross Trophy.
Necas is tied with Cutter Gauthier for the lead in goal scoring in the past month as well, with 9 goals in his last 11 games. On the season, Necas has 31 goals and 50 assists on the season for 81 points, just two short of the combined total he had last year. The Avalanche have certainly needed his scoring touch over the past month, with the team leading an ever tightening division race.
Necas also has 3 power-play goals in his last ten, helping a floundering unit that has struggled to generate offense with the man advantage, despite leading the league in 5-on-5 play.
Still top Dogg
MacKinnon is just behind Necas over the past month with 17 points, with 5 goals and 12 assists. Leading the Avalanche with 110 points so far on the season, MacKinnon is four points behind McDavid for the league lead. MacKinnon is still healthily on top of the NHL's goal scoring race, with 45 so far this season, which is six more than the player behind him, Cole Caufield.
With 16 games left in the season MacKinnon has ample opportunity to break the 50 goal mark and also retake the league lead in point scoring. With Edmonton losing Leon Draisatl's Robin to McDavid's Batman, MacKinnon and Necas will likely be the best pair in the league until the end of the regular season.