In a season already full of surreal statistics, perhaps the most impressive one of them all is the Avalanche’s record in games when they lead by multiple goals at any point.
Thirty-two games. Thirty-two wins. It’s an astonishing record in a league where holding three and four-goal leads has become difficult.
But the Avs have led by at least two goals 32 times. And they’re 32-0-0.
The San Jose Sharks erased a two-goal deficit against the Avs in the third period on Wednesday and nearly completed the comeback. But Josh Manson put it away late, and Brock Nelson sealed it with an empty netter.
READ MORE: Postgame Wrap: Avalanche Enter Olympic Break On Winning Note
10 Takeaways
1. Manson was asked about this 32-0-0 stat by my colleague Corey Masisak. It caught him off guard — it caught all of us off guard.
“I didn’t know that,” he said.
But he still tried his best to explain: “I think because if we’re up by two, it’s because we’re playing well, and when we’re playing well, I it’s hard for teams to come back on us.
2. Manson didn’t want to take any credit for already having 24 points on the season. His career high is 37, and his best with the Avs is 25. He can pass both of those after the break.
He’s playing on the left side and adjusted to that well. But he believes his D partner Brent Burns, and the overall excellent season the team is having are the reasons why he’s having this kind of a run.
3. That was Manson’s second game-winning goal of the season and fourth since joining Colorado. If you include playoffs, and the big tally he had v.s. St. Louis, he has five.
4. Nathan MacKinnon recorded his 700th career assist on the second Lehkonen goal. Dating back to the start of the 2022-23 season, MacKinnon has 294 assists in his last 287 games.
5. Brock Nelson will head to Italy with 29 goals in 55 games. He needs just nine more to have a new career high. I can’t imagine anyone thought he would have this good of a season.
If you’re looking for reasons why the Avs are where they are in the standings, look no further than what it means for them to have a No. 2 center playing this well.
6. The Avalanche are officially under 10% in net power play production. That’s basically their PP rate, with the shorthanded goals against included in the equation. They are last in the league.
7. Yaroslav Askarov was incredible in this game. It was a good trade when the Sharks acquired him from Nashville, and it’s looking even better with each passing day. If San Jose makes the playoffs, he’ll be a huge reason why. The Avs absolutely caved them in for most of the night, and he was the only reason why the score didn’t get out of hand.
8. It feels like it should be a lot more given how often we talk about it, but that was Zakhar Bardakov’s sixth minor penalty of the season. It’s quite a lot when you consider how little he plays in each game. I thought it would be more though.
He had three of them in a four-game stretch.
9. I appreciate that head coach Jared Bednar went with Mackenzie Blackwood in goal for the third straight game. Scott Wedgewood struggled in Montreal, and Blackwood has been finding his groove.
This is the part of the season where you need to see some separation between your starter and backup. Wedgewood has been great and pretty much saved the Avs when Blackwood was out. But it’s time to hand the reins to No. 39.
Kudos to Blackwood for responding positively.
10. The goals haven’t come just yet, but Valeri Nichushkin is a different player when playing with Nathan MacKinnon. He was a +4 and had three assists against the Sharks. That’s a great way to go into the break for a guy who Bednar admitted had lost some confidence during his recent offensive slump.
