MacKinnon excited for NHL playoff debut

The Denver Post revisits the junior playoff success enjoyed by Avalanche rookie Nathan MacKinnon.

He'll begin this post-season at center between Ryan O'Reilly and P.A. Parenteau and MacKinnon, even at 18, shows enough savvy to know the importance of simple support plays at a critical time of the year where every aspect of the game is magnified and can be the difference between winning and losing.

"It's exciting, because all of us are kind of in this together new," MacKinnon said. "We're a very young team, but at the same time, we have some vets who have won some Cups, so we have a nice mix here. I'm very comfortable playing center. It's my natural position and, the three of us, I think we're going to do a good job. We like to move the puck in small areas of the ice. We like to have little give-and-go plays, little 6-foot passes. That's what we're going to have to do to be at our best in this series, for our line to be successful."

Source: Adrian Dater, Denver Post