The Colorado Avalanche are currently the best team in the National Hockey League. Coming out of the All-Star break, the Avs are 3-1-0 and are 8-1-1 in their last 10. Since their rough start at the beginning of the season with a record of 4-5-1, the Avs came back with serious vengeance. They have been 31-4-3 since then, which is an insane response. A notable player of course for the Avs has been Nazem Kadri who has had a career high in points this season with 62 in just 45 games played. He and Jonathan Huberdeau are both tied for 3rd in points per game with 1.38. Nathan MacKinnon is just behind them at 5 with 1.35 points per game. Cale Makar has also continued to lead defensemen in goals with 18. Darcy Keumper as of late has also been extremely productive by coming up big in huge moments late in games. He has had 2 consecutive shutouts in the last two games he’s played. His save percentages (SV%) has exponentially grown to .921 with a goals against average (GAA) of 2.38. This has been a major improvement from what he had been doing at the beginning of the season and is a great sign for Avs as they look to make a run in the playoffs.
First game after the All-Star break was against the reigning back-to-back champs the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Avs would go on to shell former Vezina winner and two-time finalist, Andrei Vasilevsky with 47 shots on goal. The Lightning would return the favor with 38 shots. Despite a crazy amount of shots on goal, the scoring remained relatively low as the Avs came out on top with a 3-2 hard fought victory. Captain Gabriel Landeskog snatched his 20th goal of the year, while Devon Toews joined the rush to pick up his 9th early in the first period of play. Nikita Kucherov would respond with a beautiful give and go goal with Brayden Point to cut the lead in half. At the beginning of the 2nd Val Nichushkin would score on a 2 on 1 opportunity to extend the advantage to 3-1. Andre Burakovsky took a massive hit to make the pass which resulted in the goal. Later in the period, Brayden Point would manage to get loose and score on the break-away. From there, it was all Darcy Kuemper and the Avs defense, making plays to eventually secure the win in regulation. This was a gutsy playoff-like win that was much needed to show that they are the league’s best.
The Avs would then head on the road for 1 game in a back-to-back home and away series against their divisional rival, the Dallas Stars. The Avs went on to dominate the Stars with a 4-0 victory. Darcy Kuemper stopped all 23 shots he faced to get the shutout. Gabriel Landeskog scored twice in this affair. Nazem Kadri picked up his 20th goal of the season and Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored his 7th. However, the next game back at home was a much different story as the Stars responded with a 4-1 victory. Pavel Francouz was in net recording a save percentage (SV%) of .842, stopping 16 out 19. The Stars’s Joe Pavelski had a 4-point night with 2 goals and 2 assists. The Stars collected 2 powerplay goals which would ultimately be the downfall of the Avs in this game. Nathan MacKinnon had the only tally for the team as the squad ran into a hot goaltender. Jake Oettinger was in goal for the stars and would go on to stop 46 shots out of 47, which is a SV% of .979. Nothing more that the Avs could’ve done.
The next night, the Avs went on to take on the Vegas Golden Knights in Vegas. This was a highly anticipated matchup as the recently acquired Jake Eichel was set to make his season/team debut for the Golden Knights after dealing with an offseason injury and issues with the Buffalo Sabres management. But, the night was all about the Avs as they came away with a gritty 2-0 victory. Gabriel Landeskog stayed hot by adding another goal to his total early in the 3rd period, which would be the eventual game-winner. Mikko Rantanen then tacked onto the scoresheet during the powerplay, capturing his 25th of the year. Darcy Kuemper continued his brilliant performance blocking 29 out of 29 shots on goal. It was another valiant effort by the Avs to spoil the return of Jack Eichel.
The Avs remain sharp as they are still the best team in hockey. They have their work cut out for them, but if they keep getting sensational goaltending from Kuemper, they’ll stay in 1st place. The Avalanche are set to go on the road for 3 games against the Sabres, Bruins, and Red Wings before heading back home to play the Winnipeg Jets. This should be an exciting road trip especially against the Bruins and young Red Wings, who have two Calder trophy candidates Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond. It’ll be fun to see how they play against these clubs.
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