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Eventful night for Avs’ first-overall pick Nathan MacKinnon

Anaheim Ducks v Colorado Avalanche

during preseason action at Pepsi Center on September 18, 2013 in Denver, Colorado.

Doug Pensinger

Nathan MacKinnon made his National Hockey League regular season debut for the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday, and it was a night to remember.

Not just for his first two career assists, or the 6-1 Colorado win over the Anaheim Ducks. MacKinnon, who the Avalanche chose with the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NHL Draft, also came close to getting in a fight with Ducks defenseman Ben Lovejoy midway through the second period.

The two would meet again later in the evening.

It’s believed the knee-on-knee hit that Lovejoy threw on MacKinnon in the third period was one of the contributing factors to a melee at the benches involving the two head coaches - Patrick Roy for Colorado and Bruce Boudreau for Anaheim - at the end of the game.

“I was not very happy, first of all, seeing their defenseman (Lovejoy) kneeing our guy (MacKinnon). That was a knee-to-knee hit and it should have been a penalty in my opinion,” Roy said after the game, according to The Denver Post.

“Certainly didn’t like that. When it’s 6-0 I don’t think this game needs this type of cheap shot.”

A video of the dust-up at the benches shows Roy yelling and pointing at a player, before he turns his attention to Boudreau.

Roy shoved the glass twice, and Boudreau afterward called Roy’s actions “bush league.”

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