It’s the holiday season and the Colorado Avalanche are giving fans a lot to be thankful for. They own the best record in the NHL and own the most points (59) in the league. It hasn’t been without a lot of effort. The team is putting its heart and soul into this season, and it is evident every single game.
Sure you’ll have games that don’t go as planned. That’s a given, since it’s sports. Some days just won’t work in your favour. However, in 26 games, they have worked out very well.
If you want a fun read, you can check out this article about the Avalanche and Christmas dishes. I had a lot of fun with that one.
So, which games should fans check out during the holidays? Here are a couple.
Avalanche win convincingly over the Oilers
The best win of the season came on November 8 against the Oilers. The Avs kept pouring on and pouring on against Stuart Skinner. Skinner was pulled in the second period of the game after allowing four goals of his own through the first 27:28 of the game.
The scoring started with Cale Makar recording the first two goals, both in the first period. It was the first time this season that Makar had a multi-goal performance. Additionally, he was a plus-3 in terms of plus-minus on the night.
The Avs poured on four more goals in the second frame. They came from Gavin Brindley, Jack Drury and two from Parker Kelly. That was impressive in itself because those three players are depth pieces. Any time you get scoring from your lower lines, it’s an added bonus.
In the third period, Nathan MacKinnon joined in the scoring efforts, putting up two of his own, this time on a former teammate in Calvin Pickard. The third goal of the period, and the final one of the game, went to Jack Drury.
While nobody blinks an eye from the fact the Avalanche destroyed a team like the Oilers, who have/had questionable goaltending at best, there is one thing that made it even more hilarious: The Avs put on that showing without recording a power play goal.
This game was so out of hand, that insider Elliotte Friedman pointed out on his 32 Thoughts podcast that the Avs wanted to make an example out of Edmonton.
Avalanche hammer the Canadiens in late-November
On November 27th, the Colorado Avalanche took on the Montreal Canadiens at Ball Arena. It was the debut of their throwback uniforms, where they honored the Quebec Nordiques with some similar uniforms. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a big fan of them upon the initial reveal, but as time passed, they grew on me.
About 7:30 into the game, Brock Nelson started the scoring, putting the Avalanche up. It was a milestone for Nelson, as that put him at 600 points on his career. It was his seventh goal on the season. He currently has twice that many. It’s safe to say that he has really come in as a force for the Avalanche this season.
The second goal came from Nelson, too, and it was an absolute mindblowing sequence. Gabriel Landeskog gets tripped up into the Canadiens goaltender by Josh Anderson of Montreal, and while that occurred, Nelson put the puck into the net despite the net becoming out of place. Since the penalty was against the Canadiens, it was a good goal despite the goalie interference.
The Canadiens, foolishly, challeneged the call but failed and put the Avalanche on a power play (due to a failed challenge). Unfortunately, the team’s poor power play percentage got worse, as they failed to score.
Just 50 seconds into the second period, Brent Burns was next up on the scoreboard. Off of the draw and into the top of the opposing circles, Burns took the puck and rips off a night wrist shot into a mix of players. By now, it felt like game over at 3-0.
On the next goal, Brock Nelson has a breakaway but misses. However, a rebound was retrieved by Martin Necas, who passed the puck to Nelson for a wide open net goal. But wait, the puck ended up touching Gabriel Landeskog’s skate, giving him the goal instead! That was kind of funny because fans in the arena were led to believe it was Nelson’s goal.
The fifth goal was Nathan MacKinnon’s. When you talk about a perfect rebound, that’s exactly what happened here, as Landeskog shot the puck on the right side and the puck bounced to the left right onto MacKinnon’s stick. With a quick reaction, MacKinnon caught the Canadiens goalie way out of position for an easy goal.
After that goal, a play so beautiful that Avs announcer mentioned the fun game “tic tac toe” when Necas and Toews fly down the ice against a single Canadiens defender. Necas passes the puck to Toews, who then shoots the puck and finds the back of the net. It really was a gorgeous play.
To cap off the scoring, Nathan MacKinnon shoots from near the blue line, and the puck ends up redirecting again, onto Landeskog’s stick, who put it into the back of the net.
That game was almost like a night off for Avs fans, as most seem to be this season. No stress in the outcome.
Avalanche defeat a strong Panthers team
On December 11, the Florida Panthers headed West to face the Avalanche at Ball Arena.
At this point in the year, the Avs were 21-2-7.
With just over one minute gone in the game, the Avalanche started their scoring. That was when Sam Malinski, a depth defenseman, received the puck from Martin Necas while he was skating into the zone, and shot it almost immediately. It was great to see a young player in Malinski get a goal. He has really come onto his own since becoming an Avalanche.
With 1:30 remaining in the period, Brock Nelson got the Avs up 2-1. This goal really showed how much the Avalanche are playing for each other. The initial shot didn’t go in, thanks to Tarasov’s foot, but Nelson was able to locate the puck and tap it in.
Just over five minutes into the second frame, Brent Burns found what could’ve been a nice goal opportunity, but the puck deflects off the goalie right into the lap of Gavin Brindley. Brindley was flying in so fast, I am surprised that he was able to get that puck going into the net while successfully avoiding skating into it himself. He’s also a player who is overlooked because of his small frame, but he has become an awesome piece to the Avs’ puzzle.
Later in the second period, MacKinnon gets the puck and shoots it while near the blue line. The puck grazed the post but thankfully went in.
With 7:30 left in the second period, Arturri Lehkonen gets the pass from a teammate and was all alone on a breakaway. One of the Panthers players was unsuccessful in catching up to Lehkonen, which allowed #62 to have an easy opportunity.
The Avs were close to getting yet another goal just before the second period ended, but it was proven to be offsides.
With 13:42 left in the game, Gabriel Landeskog found yet another rebound on his stick and made the most of the opportunity. Shockingly, nobody was on Landeskog, who found an open net for an easy goal. This is proof that you will usually get burned if you get out of position on defense.
The final score ended up being 6-2, and the Avs headed home with a win.
The Avs are continuing to prove that they are the team to beat this season. Even when some days they area little bit sleepy, they always have a chance to win because of the goaltending. Every player on the team has their teammates’ back. It’s such a thrill to watch and there are still so many more regular season games remaining on the schedule. Before we know it, it will be playoff time. Once the team figures out its power play consistently, they will for sure be unbeatable.