Posted by by Bruce Wilkie
What does it say about the balance in the NHL’s Northwest Division when the Colorado Avalanche can go on a six game winning streak and actually lose ground? While the Avs were on their hot streak, the Vancouver Canucks were building a streak of their own, and on January 30th, they extended it to 7 straight games. That victory boosted the Canucks to 70 points, giving them a four point lead on the second place Avs and a ten point lead on the fading Calgary Flames.
Even though Colorado lost the first two games after their win streak, there is reason for optimism among Avalanche fans. The Avs schedule between January 31st and the beginning of the NHL’s Winter Olympic break on February 13th has them playing 6 out of 8 games at Denver’s Pepsi Center. In addition. between January 30th and March 6th the Canucks will be on a 14 game, 42 day road trip to make room for the Olympics. By comparison the Avalanche will play 12 games during that span, 8 at home and 4 on the road.
To the surprise of almost everyone, except perhaps themselves, the Avalanche managed to remain in contention despite a dreadful early schedule that saw them lead the NHL in road games played for the first three months of the season. The Avs schedule is now in a period that will see the home/road balance even out and to this point, the Avalanche has taken advantage, winning 4 games out of 5 on their recent home stand.
If the Avs continue their current level of play, they have the opportunity to control their own destiny. A playoff berth and even a division title are within the realm of possibility for a team that was a near unanimous pick for 29th in the NHL.
NEWS
-Avalanche goaltender Craig Anderson was named NHL Second Star of the Week for the period of January 18th to January 24th. During that time he had a 3-0-0 record with 2 shutouts, his goals-against-average was 0.33 and he stopped 80 of the 81 shots he faced.
-Avs center Matt Duchene is the leading scorer among all NHL rookies. On January 30th he had 36 points, 3 more than runner-up John Tavares of the New York Islanders.
-As of January 30th, Colorado has 5 of the top 23 rookie scorers in the NHL. Duchene is 1st, T.J. Galiardi with 20 points is 9th, Ryan O’Reilly with 19 points is 11th, Brandon Yip with 13 points is 21st and Ryan Wilson is 23rd with 11 points.
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