Things continue to roll along for the Colorado Avalanche, the NHL’s best team. They ripped off their sixth straight victory by beating the New York Islanders, and looked to complete the New York sweep by toppling the New York Rangers on Thursday night.
The Rangers kept it a game for two periods or so but eventually succumbed to the Avalanche like everyone else. The Avalanche poured four into the Rangers net in the third period to claim the 6-3 win, their seventh in a row.
The Offense is so Deep Even the Goaltenders are Getting Involved
It has been talked about ad nauseum how deep the Avalanche are offensively. The three-headed monster of MacKinnon/Necas/Makar continues to dominate, but the Avalanche have a whopping 10 players with double-digit points through 20 games.
They can add one more name to the offensive column: goaltender Scott Wedgewood. It isn’t enough that he’s having the best season of his career between the pipes, now he adds a little bit of offense to his game by assisting on Brock Nelson’s third period power play goal.
All jokes aside, six players other than MacKinnon and Makar registered at least one point on the night. Necas and Nelson had five points between them. Even on nights when the superstars are quiet, there is someone who will pick up the slack.
MacKinnon and Makar are on a Generational Run
Speaking of the aforementioned three-headed monster, we can’t help but talk about the two biggest stars in that combination: Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. They are play drivers even when they aren’t on the stat sheet, eating monster minutes along the way.
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Both of them played north of 25 minutes against the Rangers, and it paid off as both registered a pair of goals and an assist. MacKinnon holds a four-point lead on Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (with three games in hand) in the scoring race while Necas and Makar are tied for fifth in the league with 28 points each.
Having what very well may be the best forward in the league coupled with the best defenseman possibly ever has made the Avalanche unfair to play against. The fact that they have unreal conditioning means they can eat all those minutes and never slow down, either.
Avalanche are on a Historic Run
With this win over the Rangers, the Avalanche carved out a place in history. They became just the fourth team in NHL history – joining the 1927-28 Montreal Canadiens (15-1-4), 1979-80 Philadelphia Flyers (16-1-3), and 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks (17-0-3) – as the only teams in NHL history to have one or fewer regulation losses through 20 games.
Their level of dominance to this point cannot be understated. Even in games that they technically lost, they fought back from major challenges to at least earn a point. If they swing even two of those overtime losses into the win column, the numbers look even more ridiculous.
This is maybe the best time ever to be an Avalanche fan. The franchise has been fortunate to have some all-time great players wear the uniform, but this may be the best team in Denver we have ever seen.
Can’t Let Up
If there is one caveat to it all, it is the fact that the Avalanche have an .825 winning percentage and are still just four points up on the Dallas Stars in the Central Division standings. The Avalanche are doing it with style and an NHL-best +34 goal differential, but the gap is still narrow.
The Anaheim Ducks and Vegas Golden Knights are just a few points behind as well, which means that even with their dominant run, the Avalanche have competitors breathing down their necks. Which means that there can be no letting up on the gas pedal.
