The Colorado Avalanche head into Thanksgiving as the NHL’s top team. The 6-0 pounding of the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night brought the upstart club back down to Earth. The Avs, meanwhile, now have 17 wins and 39 points to open up a five-point lead on the Dallas Stars for the top spot in the league.
The Avalanche have a whopping +44 goal differential, nearly tripling the Stars’ +16 differential, which is second in the NHL.
The team is firing on all cylinders, so there’s plenty to be thankful for. Mainly, Colorado has steered clear of injuries. That has to be the biggest factor spurring the club’s success.
With that in mind, let’s get into this edition of the Avalanche notes.
Blackwood blanks former team
MacKenzie Blackwood got the call at the SAP Center on Wednesday night. All he did was make 26 saves for his second clean sheet of the season. The outing lowered Blackwood’s GAA to 1.98 and his SV% to .928.
Blackwood has now won four in a row since facing the Sharks on November 1, his first outing of the season. That was a 3-2 overtime loss in which Blackwood didn’t look overly dominant. The 28-year-old has now registered back-to-back shutouts, shattering any doubt regarding his standing as a solid NHL starting goalie.
Avalanche extend streaks
Wednesday night’s win marked the extension of various streaks for the Avalanche. Let’s start with the win streak.
The Avalanche now have the season’s longest winning streak, rifling off 10 straight victories. In those 10 wins, the Avs have outscored opponents 47-15. They’ also outshot opponents 326-269. Plus, the club is 6-for-38 on the power play, for a 15.8% with the man advantage. The Avs have also given up five power play tallies, for an 86.8% on the penalty kill.
Colorado also kept its shutout streak going. The Avalanche have now registered three straight shutouts. The last time that happened was back in 2001. Interestingly, the three straight shutouts came in November, from the 14 to the 18.
The @Avalanche have recorded 13 goals in a row across their past four games to help extend their winning streak to 10 games, tied with their second-longest run in franchise history.#NHLStats: https://t.co/AcFTgGKQjw pic.twitter.com/U4NS5hlPIE
— NHL Public Relations (@NHLPR) November 27, 2025
In that span, the Avalanche registered back-to-back 1-0 shutouts against the Minnesota Wild and New York Islanders at home. They completed the trifecta on November 18 against the New Jersey Devils on the road. Patrick Roy got all three clean sheets.
The Avalanche also scored nine seconds apart on Wednesday night. Josh Manson got his second of the season to chase Sharks goalie Yaroslav Askarov. Then, Joel Kiviranta got his first of the season to welcome Alex Nedeljkovic to the game. The feat was tied for the second-fastest two goals. The record is two goals five seconds apart, set in February 2004.
MacKinnon historic milestone
Lastly, Nathan MacKinnon made history against the Sharks. MacKinnon skated away with a two-point night. He notched a power play goal in the first period to make the game 2-0. He then assisted on Artturi Lehkonen’s goal in the third. The assist placed MacKinnon in sole possession of second place in the Avalanche/Nordiques franchise history for all-time assists.
The Dogg 👏 pic.twitter.com/eeGXKX9YDO
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) November 27, 2025
He passed Peter Stastny on the all-time list. Next up is Joe Sakic, who’s got 1,016 career assists. At 669, MacKinnon still has a long way to go. But it seems he’s not slowing down any time soon. So, there’s a good chance he’ll get there eventually.
The Avs will face off against the Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center on Black Friday in what will be a full slate of NHL games.