Powerful Design: MacKinnon, Avalanche execute set play to perfection

Good luck stopping Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Gabriel Landeskog, especially when they're all on the ice with the man advantage.

Late in Friday's game against the Vancouver Canucks, the Colorado Avalanche's red-hot trio connected on the power play, pulling off a flawless passing sequence to take a 6-5 lead with under two minutes to go in regulation.

Let's take a closer look at how they did it.

We pick things up with Rantanen (No. 96) controlling the puck as Colorado sets up with about 20 seconds left in the penalty to Canucks center Bo Horvat.

Rantanen evaluates his options with Landeskog planted down low, Matt Calvert in the slot, Tyson Barrie at the blue line, and with the path to MacKinnon obstructed by two Canucks penalty killers.

Rantanen elects to move into the faceoff circle, drawing in multiple Vancouver defenders in the process. Ben Hutton takes him on directly.

Hutton appears to be playing Rantanen well, but the Avalanche winger feathers a beautiful pass between the blade of Hutton's stick and the Canucks rearguard's skates, and the puck goes by him on the way to Landeskog.

Landeskog stops the puck on his stick for a split-second while sitting on the doorstep and quickly recognizes both that he can't safely get it to Calvert and that MacKinnon is lurking unattended in the other circle.

Landeskog quickly slings it in MacKinnon's direction.

MacKinnon goes down on one knee and rips a one-timer, to which Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom barely has time to react.

It's a perfectly placed shot, and it beats Markstrom short side.

The whole sequence was textbook power-play strategy and execution, carried out about as well as possible.

The awareness and passing ability shown by both Rantanen and Landeskog, plus the finish by MacKinnon, made it a shining example of how and why they've been so dominant this season.

Colorado ultimately gave up the tying goal with 36 seconds left and then lost the game in overtime, but MacKinnon's second marker of the night served as an immaculate illustration of the chemistry the trio has developed.

(Images courtesy: NHL.com)

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