With a 5 point performance on Saturday night in a 6-5 overtime win over the Washington Capitals, Connor McDavid has leapfrogged Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead in points. MacKinnon was running away with the lead through the first half of the season, but McDavid always stayed within striking distance. 

A career best 20 game point streak for the Oilers captain thrust him back into the scoring race. McDavid scored 19 goals and added another 27 assists over the point streak, for a total of 46 points over the stretch. When he’s hot, he is scorching hot, scoring in bunches. One of the most effective ways to keep him off the scoresheet is to keep the entire team off the scoresheet, as the streak came to an end with a 1-0 shutout loss to the New York Islanders. McDavid has 90 points in 53 games this season.

MacKinnon has been steady all year long, and his team is having an all time season. The Avalanche hold a 36-6-9 record, and an 8 point gap between them and the second place team in the league, with 3 games in hand.

MacKinnon is pacing to break some of his career best numbers. He currently has 87 points in 49 games, on pace for 145 points, surpassing the 140 points he had in his Hart winning season in 2023-24. The Nova Scotian is always a threat to score, scoring 40+ goals on three separate occasions, and hitting the 50 goal mark once (51, again in 2023-24). However, he has already found the back of the net 38 times this season, and is on pace for 63 goals, which would give him an excellent chance at the Richard for the first time in his career. He has a 6 goal lead over the second highest goalscorer, which also happens to be McDavid.

The success of the Avalanche likely will give MacKinnon the edge over McDavid when it comes to the Hart Trophy, but the two will be in a heated race for the Art Ross Trophy for the rest of the season (although Kucherov is only 12 points back from the league lead).

People have their opinions on who is the better player between the two, a legitimate argument as the two have been at the top of the league for years now. Whatever side you lean on, make sure you enjoy the fact that we have two all-time greats in their prime at the same time, pushing each other to be great.

The two are set to be teammates at the Olympics in under a month, and can take a pause on the scoring race, and represent their country together. Must watch hockey.

MacKinnon has the chance to retake the scoring lead today as the Avalanche face the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Oilers host the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night.