The Colorado Avalanche are the highest-scoring team in the NHL. Now the Avalanche’s defense is starting to pick things up, too. Darcy Kuemper picked up his second shutout of the season, and the Avalanche got goals from three different players en route to a 4-0 victory over the Dallas Stars on Sunday. The Avalanche haven’t lost in regulation since Dec. 16, giving up only 40 goals while going 16-0-2 over that stretch. Here are three takeaways from Sunday’s victory.
Kuemper Slams Door on Stars
Kuemper needed just 23 saves to pick up his second shutout the season – both of them coming in the last month. While Colorado’s offensive stars got the Avalanche the lead in the first period, Kuemper was the star in the second. The Avalanche netminder made 14 saves in the second stanza alone and was pivotal in stopping three Stars power plays in the period as well. He only needed to make three saves during those penalty kills, but he also had a pair of pivotal poke checks that stymied Dallas behind the net.
Kuemper has been on fire in the last month. His first shutout of the season came against the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 15, starting a sizzling nine-game run. Over that span, he’s gone 7-0-1 while giving up more than two goals in a game just once. His goals-against average is just 1.39, with a save percentage of .952 during that stretch. He’s also been between the pipes for both wins since the All-Star break, making 36 saves on Thursday to dump the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The goaltender is now 23-5-2 in his first year with the Avalanche after coming to Colorado via trade this summer. Three of those losses came before Oct. 26. Those 23 wins are tied for fifth-most in the NHL this season, and Kuemper is four victories away from his personal best of 27 in 2018-19 with the Coyotes. The Avalanche had lost five straight regular-season games against the Stars before Sunday’s shutout.
Kadri Keeps Up Consistency
Everybody knew it was coming, but Nazem Kadri officially made this his best offensive season on Sunday. Kadri’s 20th goal of the season gave him 62 points, setting a career-high for points in a season — his previous high of 61 came in 2016-17 when he played in all 82 games. Sunday’s contest was just his 43rd appearance. It was also the first time scoring 20 goals in a season for Kadri since netting 32 in 2017-18.
To show how consistently special Kadri has been this season, one only has to look at his point streaks. Entering this season, he had managed just two point streaks of seven games or longer, and his longest was nine games back in 2017-18. Like everything else this season, Kadri has blown those out of the water.
Sunday’s goal gave him a point in his last seven games – and it’s just the third-longest point streak for him this season. He put together 10 consecutive games with a point at the beginning of November and amassed a 15-game point streak from Nov. 27 through Jan. 15. There was only one game between those streaks – the Avalanche’s 3-1 loss to the Stars on Nov. 26.
Landeskog Continues Goal-Scoring Surge
Gabriel Landeskog went into last weekend’s All-Star break sizzling, and it looks like the break hasn’t slowed him down. The Avalanche captain scored two goals on Sunday, giving him eight goals in his last eight games and 22 for the season. He opened and closed the scoring on Sunday, scoring the game’s first goal in the opening period and sealing the victory with an empty-netter in the third.
Landeskog’s first goal was a familiar sight, as he deflected a shot from Nathan MacKinnon past Stars goalie Braden Holtby. It was set up by a great play from Cale Makar, who also assisted on Kadri’s goal a little more than six minutes later. Landeskog’s empty-netter gave him 16 career goals against the Stars – the second-most against any team. His 20 goals against the Minnesota Wild are his most against a single opponent.
Related: Gabriel Landeskog: The NHL’s Most Underrated Leader
MacKinnon is back after missing the last four games – and the All-Star Game – with a broken nose that was a result of a hit from Taylor Hall of the Boston Bruins on Jan. 26. It didn’t take him long to get back into the swing of things, assisting on Landeskog’s first-period goal. It was his 35th helper of the season, second on the team behind Kadri’s 42. The Avalanche wrap up their three-game series with the Stars on Tuesday when they host Dallas at Ball Arena.
