Avalanche forward Jonathan Drouin surpasses career-high points, assists in 5-2 win over Minnesota Wild

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The Colorado Avalanche has proven to be the right move for Jonathan Drouin as he has set new career highs in his first year with the team.

“Yeah, it feels good … it’s been a tough couple years in Montreal so it’s nice to feel good about my game and actually get career high in points. It’s not stuff I really look at but I’m just proud of how I’m playing and the team’s playing,” Drouin said after the win.

With a three-point night in the 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, Drouin surpassed his career-high in points and now has 56. His previous season-high in assists was 34 and he now sits at 37 after he tallied three against the division rival.

The 29-year-old hit 53 points twice in his career — in the 2016-17 season as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning and again in the 2018-19 campaign when he was with the Montreal Canadiens. He earned just 29 points in 58 games in his last season with the Habs before he became a free agent and signed with the Avs in the offseason.

His record-breaker was an assist on Nathan MacKinnon’s milestone 50th goal of the season.

“Yeah it’s fun, it’s cool. Obviously tonight was a cool night for him to get 50, and getting an assist on it is always cool,” Drouin said. “The building was rocking and it was a cool night.”

MacKinnon said it was special for him to be a part of Drouin’s achievement — which he didn’t know until he was asked about it.

“That’s great, I didn’t know that, that’s awesome. He’s proved a lot of people wrong, I think and you know just really happy for him,” MacKinnon said. “All the work he’s put in this season, he gets better every week it seems like right now and it’s fun to watch him work every day.”

Head coach Jared Bednar said he was proud of his top-line forward prior to breaking his career record and Drouin attributed his coach’s guidance to his success.

“Obviously I didn’t start the season very well, a couple healthy scratch, but he was in my corner, he was trying to help me, we’re watching video, and he’s a hell of a coach,” the 29-year-old said. “Very calm guy, just kind of work on the detail — you know what to expect from him, he knows what to expect from you and it’s been a very easy transition.”

Bednar has said he works toward his players achieving their best and Drouin is a perfect example of that.

“I still don’t know what Drou’s (Drouin) ceiling is but he’s making a pretty nice case for himself that he’s a really well-rounded, high-skilled 200-foot player,” Bednar said. “Because the trust that we have in him as a staff to be able to play against all the other teams top lines every night, regardless of whether that was with Nate (MacKinnon) or not with Nate, he’s handling it really well. And so I like the version of him now and I want to see it continue to grow.”

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