The Colorado Avalanche have been arguably the most exciting team to watch in the NHL as of late. For them, it’s been all gas and no brakes. As we get closer to the end of January, the Avs still haven’t had a single regulation loss this whole month in 14 games played. The team continues to deal with adversity through injuries/covid issues but have continued to persevere through it all. Through this month, this team has accomplished quite a lot. Currently, they hold a commanding lead in the Central Division with 63 points in 41 games, while the next closest team is the Nashville Predators, with 57 points in 44 games played. Not only are they at the top of this highly contested division, they also sit first in the entire league. This is quite the accomplishment considering they have played 2 games less than the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning, who are 2nd and 3rd place in the entire NHL. On top of this amazing accomplishment, the resume gets better, holding a 14 game point streak combined with a franchise record of 17 straight home wins (and counting), which is the 5th longest streak in the NHL. The Avs record since the pause has been 13-0-1 and are 18-1-1 in their last 20 games. Their offense is still the best in the entire league, with a goal per game average of 4.1. Lots of these recent games, they’ve been behind at some point but have been able to show persistent effort clawing their way back to come away with a win. This team is on one heck of a pace.
After a strenuous road trip to SoCal, the Avalanche returned home for a 3-game homestand. They would first face-off against the historical Montreal Canadiens, who’ve had a catastrophic season despite making an exciting run to the cup final last year. The Avalanche seemed to be in control early with a 2-0 lead but ended up giving it away in the 3rd period. The Canadiens played extremely well the whole game but would ultimately come up short in overtime thanks to a goal by the Captain Gabriel Landeskog. Val Nichushkin had a great game with a goal and a game-winning primary assist. The 2 defensemen, Samuel Girard Devon Toews, were both active offensively, recording 2 assists each on both of the power-play goals. Not a game the Avs wanted to go to overtime in, but they will take the 2 points.
For the next game of the homestand, they were against their division rival, the Chicago Blackhawks. Pavel Francouz would get the start in goal for the Avs. This game wasn’t the most flashy offensively, but the Avs got the lead and kept it the whole game. Avs point leader Nazem Kadri scored on the power-play for a 1-0 lead in the 2nd period. Later in the 3rd period, Mikko Rantanen displayed great patience, out waiting Hawks goalie Marc-Andre Fleury for a beautiful backhand goal to extend the lead to 2-0. Pavel Francouz was the story of this game, adding another shutout to his career. This was his 2nd consecutive shutout. He stopped 24 out of 24 shots against the Blackhawks, contributing to the Avs win-streak at home.
For the last game of the homestand, the Avalanche would play against the Boston Bruins. This was an exciting matchup considering both have tremendous offenses. The game lived up to the hype, and it consisted of a great offensive effort on both sides. However, a scare for the Avalanche as Nathan MacKinnon suffered an injury in the 1st period because of a hit by Bruins Taylor Hall. MacKinnon got hit, causing his own stick to clobber his face, resulting in tremendous amounts of blood. He was able to skate back to the tunnel under his own power but would miss the remainder of the game. It was later diagnosed that it was a broken nose like most people had speculated. In spite of this event, the Avs would go on to score the first goal of the game to make it 1-0. Kurtis MacDermid was the goal scorer, tallying his first-ever goal with the Avalanche. Aside from this, it quickly went downhill for the Avs in the 2nd period as the Bruins came out firing with 3 goals to make it 3-1. The 3rd period was a different story. Samuel Girard scored a well-needed goal off of a fortunate bounce to give the team some life. The Avs had a massive surge to try to equalize the game from that point on and would finally convert with 36 seconds remaining. Ball Arena was rocking once Gabriel Landeskog tied it off of a great find from Nazem Kadri. The game would go to overtime, where all the momentum was with the Avalanche. Cale Makar, on the man advantage would seal the deal to give the Avs their 17th win in a row. An absolutely electric night for the fans as the comeback was completed late.
Almost no team in the month of January has been able to beat the Avalanche, for sure at home. The team hopes to continue this momentum as they go to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Blackhawks Friday for a 1 game road trip. Then it’s back at home at Ball Arena until the All-Star break next weekend. The Avs look to continue their point streak, along with their at-home win-streak. The record is 23 games set by the Detroit Red Wings a while back, and with the way the Avs have been playing, I think they have a great shot at catching it.
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