The Colorado Avalanche Season is Unbelievable
Read Time:5 Minute, 30 Second
Historic Run!
The Avalanche went 15-0-1 in the month of January. They went on the fifth longest home winning streak in NHL history winning 18 straight games at Ball Arena. They have lost only two games at ball arena in regulation all season. Their last regulation loss at home, was against the Vegas Golden Knights on October 26th. It has been three and a half months since an opponent did not require an extra period of hockey to take down the Avs. So what are they doing that has made them such a dominant force this season?
Trials and Tribulations
Well lets get a few things out of the way first, this team has not been without challenges. This insane season has not been bump-free, and the coaching staff and players have had to endure and adapt. Nathan MacKinnon has missed a ton of games with a list of different ailments. Our stud defensemen Bowen Byram has been battling concussions that seem to take a serious toll on his mental health and his desire to play hockey. Pavel Francouz missed the first half of the season returning from injury. Nearly every player on this roster has missed multiple games, with the exception of Logan O’Connor, Erik Johnson, and Tyson Jost…
This has been a season that is truly defined by Joe Sakic’s ability to build one of the highest talent teams in the NHL, while simultaneously boasting one of the deepest benches in the NHL. Those two things are typically mutually exclusive, teams traditionally don’t have bottomless talent pools, when they also have five top 25 skaters in the NHL on the top of the roster. This team is playing the regular season in dominant fashion, but as has been the goal for the past three seasons, a Stanley Cup is the ultimate goal. I believe this roster has the goal-scoring talent, defensive prowess, the toughness, the grittiness, and the desire to get past the second round, and finally bring Lord Stanley’s Cup back to Denver for the third time.
Goaltending
So, one thing that fans seem to continue to bring up is that the goaltending seems to be the weakness of this roster, and the stats back up this claim. I don’t think it is particularly fair to say the Avalanche have weak goaltending, as they rank near the middle of the league in most goaltending statistics, but in relation to the rest of the roster, which lies at the top of the league, the goaltending is definitely not on par. Since Pavel Francouz returned to the lineup on December 16th, the Avalanche are 16-1-2. They have won four overtime games and two shootouts in that span. I think it is safe to say that the goaltending got a boost with his return and as he has gotten back to a healthy place, he’s elevated the goaltending to a higher standard.
Pavel Francouz is 7-1 with two shutouts in his eight starts. His single loss was his first game back on the ice after nearly two years out, against then league leading Nashville Predators, the night that the league shut back down for nearly a month due to a severe Leaguewide Covid outbreak. The Avalanche goaltending stats are somewhat skewed because of eight games this season with third and fourth string goalies Jonas Johansson and Justice Annunen getting the starts. Annunen started back-to-back games giving up six and five goals respectively going 1-0-1 in his two starts. Johansson went 3-2-1 in his six starts. These two goalies are responsible for four of the Avs 12 total losses, and only eight total starts.
Now, that being said, Darcy Kuemper is only 16th in save percentage, 19th in goals allowed, 33rd in goals against per game, all while being 18th in the league on shots faced… He’s not facing an absurd number of shots and is currently middle of the pack on most goalie metrics. He is however, sixth in the NHL with 22 wins, and has a 76% win percentage on starts, which is higher than the Avalanche full season win percentage of 73%.
Unreal Goal Scoring
The Avs are winning games more because of their insane goal-scoring and less because of their goaltending, which needs to continue to improve come playoff time. The Avalanche have three total shutouts this season, and Pavel Francouz is responsible for two of them in eight starts. The team has a good amount of overtime and shootout games this season, where they have a 7-4 record, Kuemper is 4-2 in overtime and shootouts this season and Francouz is 3-0.
This team has the second highest goal scoring average in the NHL at 4.07 per game, behind only the Florida Panthers at 4.09 per game. The Avs have three All-Stars in MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Nazem Kadri. It could and should have been more like five with Devon Toews and Mikko Rantanen both having unreal seasons as well. In a season where Nathan MacKinnon has missed 14 games and currently sits as the Avalanche 8th leading goal scorer, most would be shocked to find out that roster is sitting at the top of the NHL standings.
Room to Improve
One of the craziest things about this roster and their season story is there is serious room to get better, they only boast the 10th best power play and the 21st ranked penalty kill units. As previously mentioned their goaltending can improve as they get healthy and shore up chemistry toward the end of the season. Nathan MacKinnon can finish out the season healthy. Bowen Byram could recover from his concussion symptoms and return to the ice. The Avalanche are in talks to bring in Claude Giroux from the Philadelphia Flyers before the trade deadline, who is a 15-year veteran, six time All-Star, a Calder trophy, and multi-time winner of each of the Selke, Hart and Byng trophies.
This Avalanche team is an absolute treat to watch, as fans we should truly appreciate the brilliance of the roster and their performances on a nightly basis. The crown gem that will immortalize their greatness, bringing Lord Stanley’s Cup back to Colorado, to join the Denver Broncos as three time champions in their respective sports. Unfortunately teams greatness is not defined by their ability to win in the regular season, or to put up gaudy numbers before the playoffs, the thing that etches greatness in history is the ability to go the distance.
Happy
100 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
1
0
Average Rating