Colorado Avalanche Snap the Losing Streak and Get Win They Need

The Colorado Avalanche snapped a six game losing streak against the Boston Bruins on Thursday night.

Not only did the Colorado Avalanche snap their dismal losing skid, but they are also getting some good contribution from Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon on this road trip.

Both Duchene and MacKinnon have scored five of the seven goals the Avs have notched on this road trip. Duchene has accounted for three of them, and MacK has nabbed two.

Furthermore, it was good to see Carl Soderberg get on the board against the Bruins, and John Mitchell finally notched his first point of the season.

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The Avs will need their depth to step up if they are going to get themselves back into contention for a playoff spot.

I still believe that it is highly unlikely the Avs make the playoffs this season, but I suppose you never know.

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Anyway, the win against the Bruins at least takes them out of last place in the NHL temporarily, kind of.

Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon Are on Fire

I’m going to link to a couple videos here, just in case you missed the goals on Thursday night. Or, you probably want to see them again as well.

Here was the opening goal from Matt Duchene:

Quick hits from the video:

• Duchy showed some great patience on that goal.
• Then, he absolutely buried it top shelf on Anton Khudobin.
• Finally the Avs got the first goal!

That last point is probably the most important because the Avs are really having trouble scoring the first goal this season.

Anyway, let’s take a look at the second goal by Nathan MacKinnon because it was a thing of beauty:

Quick hits from the video:

• That’s MacK’s second short-handed goal of the season, the only two the team have scored.
• That was a rocket of a wrist shot.
• And, it was the perfect decision by MacK because he knew he was tired.

I love watching this one because you can see MacK put his hand in the air to get a change, then realize that he could swoop for a breakaway. Then, after he rushes down the ice with the puck he realizes he is too tired to take it all the way home and bust a move. So, he just rips home a wrister instead, and man was that a hell of a shot.

Great goals by MacKinnon and Duchene on Thursday night to get the Avs rolling in the right direction.

Conclusion

Calvin Pickard showed up against the Bruins as well, and he’s slowly winning over the starting job methinks.

Even though he let in two goals in the second that gave the Bruins life, he was able to hang on after that and get his fifth win of the season. That brings his record to 5-2-1 in eight starts. Which is obviously much better than Semyon Varlamov’s performance so far this season.

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Hopefully he solidifies his hold on that No. 1 spot with some consistency over the next few games (if he gets the starts).

What’s on tap for the Avalanche:

The next game comes against the Montreal Canadiens in the Bell Centre at 5:00 pm MST on Saturday night.

Of course it’s scheduled for Hockey Night in Canada because it was probably scheduled when Patrick Roy was still the Avs coach. Now, that ship has sailed. Still, it’s an important game for the Avs, and it’s by no means going to be an easy one.

At least the six game losing skid was snapped. Now it is time to see if the Avs can start a winning streak.