Andy Cross / The Denver Post)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nathan MacKinnon took it for granted. Winning came easy. Winning championships was the norm. Making the playoffs was a given.
That was 2013 and 2014, when the Halifax Mooseheads center and Avalanche forward emerged as the world's best young hockey player. MacKinnon led the Mooseheads to the 2013 Memorial Cup as Canada's major-junior national champions before joining the Avs in a magical 112-point 2013-14 season in which he won the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year.
He was always winning by participating.
Thursday, MacKinnon, 22, played his first NHL postseason game since he was a teenager in 2014, when his career and the Avalanche began to spiral downward.