For the first time in 21 years, the Avalanche put up nine goals on the road. They defeated the Edmonton Oilers 9-1 — the largest margin of victory on the road in franchise history.

Colorado went into Rogers Place looking forward to a matchup between two Western Conference juggernauts.

The expectation was for yet another classic featuring Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, and Leon Draisaitl.

Instead, the Avs duo combined for four goals and six points, and the Oilers could only muster one goal on the power play. Of course, it was McDavid from Draisaitl.

“It was one of those nights where we had a really good night. Them not so much, it happens,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “It’s a confidence builder for our group.”

Colorado got scoring from all over the lineup and embarrassed the Oilers. Four different players had two goals. MacKinnon, Makar, and depth forwards Parker Kelly and Jack Drury.

It was pure dominance. It was the difference between a focused Avalanche roster — one that has quietly led the NHL for most of the season — and an Edmonton team that can’t figure out its depth, line combinations, or goaltending.

Kelly was a beast in this one.

Makar and MacKinnon made their goals look easy

Scott Wedgewood had an underratedly great game.

And Gabe Landeskog might be the unluckiest player in the world.

10 Observations

1. Let’s start with Landeskog. For all the talk of his slow start this year, the captain has now had two goals called back after a coach’s challenge. His stat line would look a lot better with two goals. But he might be the unluckiest player in the league right now.

At some point, Landeskog is going to get a goal that’ll count. And it’ll be worth celebrating. But right now, he continues to build up goodwill with the hockey Gods. Right?

His last regular-season goal was on March 5, 2022.

2. Makar scored two goals a minute apart in the first period that were exactly the same. That’s a player who found a weakness in Stuart Skinner and exposed him twice. Kudos to the Sportsnet feed for showing the two tallies side-by-side during their broadcast. They were freakishly identical.

Makar has points in each of Colorado’s nine games to open the season (14 points). Only four defensemen have ever started the season with a longer road point streak. The record is 12, set by Paul Coffey in the 1986-87 season.

3. Amid the Avs’ offensive surge was an incredible poke check by 40-year-old Brent Burns on Leon Draisaitl. About a minute later, Burns set up Drury with a redirection goal that made it 4-0 before the first TV timeout in the second period.

Burns has seven points in 15 games; his advanced numbers look great, and he’s averaging more than 20 minutes per game.

4. The Avs had four power plays in the first period, including 36 seconds of 5-on-3, but couldn’t score. They had three more later in the game, including a full four-minute power play but couldn’t score. Colorado finished 0-for-7 in 11:50 of power play time. That sentence is hilarious in a game where they scored nine times.

It’s a good thing they’ve been dominant at five-on-five on most nights. Especially in this game.

5. Stats that make you go, “huh?”

The Avalanche have as many shorthanded goals as they do power play goals in their nine road games. One. Literally one of each after Kelly scored shorthanded. Colorado is 1-for-28 on the power play in nine road games (5-1-3)

6. I’m still debating internally whether Makar or MacKinnon made their goals look easier. MacKinnon’s two tallies were also nearly identical.

7. Speaking of the four minute PP the Avs had in the third period, I hated that the officials called Jake Walman for unsportsmanlike conduct. Walman tripped up Victor Olofsson, and while skating to the penalty box, he made a diving gesture towards the official twice.

I would’ve liked for the official to take the high road, or give Walman a 10-minute misconduct rather than gift Colorado a four-minute power play in a game that was already 8-1. Funny enough, the Avs didn’t score on the power play but got a goal 15 seconds after Walman exited the box.

8. Maybe the most impressive stat of the night: Martin Necas was a +4 and did not record a point. Jack Ahcan also was a +4, but he’s not quite the point producer Necas is.

It’s even more impressive when you realize that Brock Nelson, Valeri Nichushkin, and Landeskog all did not have a point. This was truly a game that had scoring from all over.

For example, Zakhar Bardakov had two assists. And he got them in his first three shifts in less than three minutes of ice time. Talk about efficient.

9. After watching Kelly’s shorthanded goal, I have one request for Bednar: Use Kelly in the next shootout.

10. The only other time the Avs scored nine goals on the road was on March 8, 2004. I vividly remember that night, and a lot of older Avalanche fans probably do, too. It was the night of the Steve Moore incident in Vancouver.