The Colorado Avalanche ended a tough month of January on a positive note. The Avs finished off the East Coast road trip with a statement win in Detroit. The Avs blanked the Red Wings 5-0 on Saturday, erasing the back-to-back losses in Ottawa and Montreal.
The win featured plenty of interesting notes. So, let’s jump into this edition of the Avalanche news.
Avalanche back on track
After a tough 7-3 loss against Montreal on Thursday night, the Avalanche got back on track with a solid 5-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings. MacKenzie Blackwood was back to his usual stingy self, stopping 28 shots for the clean sheet.
Meanwhile, Nathan MacKinnon scored twice and added an assist. He’s now up to 40 goals on the season and 91 points. MacKinnon has a healthy nine-point lead over Nikita Kucherov for second place in league scoring. The Avs superstar trails Connor McDavid by three points for the NHL lead.
The Avs are not 38-8-9 on the season, good for 81 points. Despite the skid, the Avalanche remain nine points ahead of the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild for tops in the Central Division.
The Avalanche have two more games remaining before the Olympic break. So, the club will be looking to finish off the schedule in gear.
Burns milestone
Brent Burns scored a nifty goal in the first period to open the scoring. The goal was his ninth of the season. But most importantly, it was the 270th of his career, moving him into a tie for either place all-time for goals among defenseman. Burns is now tied with the great Bobby Orr.
The next name on the list is Larry Murphy with 288. If Burns continues playing a couple of more seasons, he could have a reasonable chance of moving into sixth all-time.
It’s worth noting that Burns has 935 career points. It would be quite some treat to see Burns hit 1,000 points. He would become the ninth blueliner in NHL history to accomplish that feat.
Colton heating up
After going through an awful cold streak, Ross Colton is beginning to heat up. He’s now scored in back-to-back games after notching his seventh of the season early in the second period. The goal put the Avs up 3-0, pretty much leaving the game out of reach for Colorado.
The Avalanche eventually chased Red Wings starting goaltender John Gibson after 40 minutes. Colorado added one more goal against Cam Talbot, who came in to spell Gibson for the third period.
The Avs will get a much-deserved day off on Sunday. They’ll be back on the ice on Monday night against the Red Wings in their second and final meeting of the season. The Avalanche will close off their pre-Olympic schedule with a showdown at Ball Arena on Wednesday against the San Jose Sharks.