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Halifax Mooseheads’ Nathan MacKinnon scores another sick goal in QMJHL playoffs (VIDEO)

Neate Sager


Sixteen-year-old phenom Nathan MacKinnon apparently missed the memo to forget about scoring pretty goals in the playoffs.

Crowding the goal crease to deflect shots and dig for rebounds is the old reliable during the post-season. MacKinnon can do that, of course, but he reached back for a little extra on Tuesday night when the Mooseheads were trailing in the third period on Tuesday against the Moncton Wildcats. The prospect for next year's NHL draft was going 1-on-3 against Wildcats defenders as he crossed centre ice. Instead of settling for playing the puck into a corner of a rink, he made them look like they were wearing cement shoes before going in to deke goalie Roman Will. The tying goal put the Mooseheads on their way to an overtime win and their first playoff series victory in four years.

This might have stopped the between-the-legs and the spinnerama-and-score goals that MacKinnon scored earlier in the series, which were highlighted Tuesday on BTN.

The magician was gracious enough to explain his tricks to Mooseheads beat writer Matthew Wuest.

Even some Wildcats fans among the 3,774 were shaking their head in amazement — perhaps in recognition there was little their team could have done to stop him.

"I was going to split the D to be honest," MacKinnon said. "I saw them both kind of go to each other. I thought I'd go outside, I didn't think I'd have enough room to get over to the far post, so I went backhand. It worked out well." (Metro Halifax)

MacKinnon totalled six goals and eight points in the four-game sweep. No doubt NHL scouts also noticed he won more than 70 per cent of his faceoffs on Tuesday, too, going 19-for-26. He's at ease with the grunt work, too.

The Mooseheads, who were near the bottom of the QMJHL last season, are the first team through to the second round of the playoffs. Who knows how far this young team can go this spring, but they will be a fun show to follow next season. MacKinnon's not the precocious rookie on the team. Teammate Jonathan Drouin, who turned 17 on Tuesday, also displayed some sweet scoring touch during the Moncton series.

(Stick tap: Jérôme Bérubé.)

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet (videos: Telus).