The Avalanche extended their winning streak to four games on Friday, defeating Utah Hockey Club 4-1 at Delta Center. Colorado improved to 22-15-0 on the season and 2-1-0 vs Utah. The team’s 13-7-0 away record is tied for the most road wins in the NHL. Colorado had just 19 road victories in 41 games a season ago. They’re on pace to blow past that number.

Jared Bednar’s club is back at home for the next four games starting on New Years Eve. But first, I’d like to gather my thoughts on the Avs’ performance in their first game back following the holiday break.

10 Observations

1. This might sound crazy, but how many games will it take for Mackenzie Blackwood to enter the Vezina Trophy conversation? Blackwood is 4-1-0 with the Avs, letting in nine goals on 151 shots in the process. He has a shiny .940 save percentage and a 1.82 goals-against average. I’ll probably get more into this in Monday’s Notebook, but 10 years ago, another midseason goalie trade quickly elevated a team’s save percentage. That netminder ended up finishing third for the Vezina Trophy and fourth in Hart Trophy votes.

2. There’s something undeniably thrilling about seeing a star player drop the gloves. I’ll always remember the iconic bout between captains Vincent Lecavalier and Jarome Iginla during the 2004 Stanley Cup Final. While Nathan MacKinnon’s fight in a late December game doesn’t quite reach that level, it was still an incredible moment to witness.

3. Have we ever seen this many empty-net goals in a season? I’m genuinely curious to see how the numbers compare to years past when all is said and done. But it seems like the norm nowadays is for a game to have two of them. It bothered me that Colorado couldn’t stop letting them in early in the season. But it seems to be canceling out now. The team has four empty netters in the last two games.

4. Thirty NHL hat tricks to date, five of which belong to the Avs. Mikko Rantanen (3), Artturi Lehkonen (1), and Joel Kiviranta (1) are all of Finnish descent. Lehkonen completed the hat trick on Friday with a late empty-net goal. It’s the first of his career.

5. Lehkonen is up to 13 goals in 25 games. That’s quite the scoring pace for a guy who missed training camp and the first 12 games of the season.

6. Other players have games in hand, but as it currently stands, MacKinnon and Rantanen are the top point producers in the NHL. Rantanen’s 53 points are one better than Leon Draisaitl albeit in three more games. But MacKinnon? He’s on another level. MacKinnon is up to 60 points — seven more than second place. He has an insane 19 points in his last eight games (five goals, 14 assists). Rantanen is riding a 10-game point streak, recording five goals and 13 assists in that stretch.

7. Josh Manson’s return was much needed. I still think the Avs need help on defense and I’m curious to see where they look before the trade deadline. But having him back was huge. Manson finished with three shots, two hits, and a +1 rating in 19:42 of ice time. He was back on the second pair alongside Samuel Girard.

8. Another game without a shot on goal for Casey Mittelstadt.

9. The fourth line is pretty much useless right now. The Avs need Jonathan Drouin back and have to find a way to figure out how to navigate the center position. If or when Drouin returns, is it time to put Ross Colton back at 3C? If he continues to not produce, it’s probably the right move. They gotta find a way to get the Logan O’Connor, Parker Kelly, and Kiviranta line to be the fourth option. But neither Givani Smith nor Jere Innala is going to play above them. And Ivan Ivan has lost the magic he had early in the season.

10. Watching Ian Cole on Friday reminded me how much the Avalanche suffered after trading him early in 2021. Weirdly enough, that move hurt them more than they probably thought. It also makes me wonder if he’d be on the Avs’ radar as a depth addition at the deadline had it not been for his $3.1 million salary.