Everybody knows how dominant Cale Makar can be. He’s had over 20 goals three times in his career, including last year’s 30-goal outing. He’s also reached over 90 points the past two full seasons and came close to doing so for the actual first time in the Avs’ Stanley Cup campaign of 2021-22. However, Makar is on a bit of a cold streak.
While prior to last night’s game against the Canucks he had a four-point game streak including one goal, Makar has gone four straight games without scoring a goal… Three times. He also hasn’t scored in his last three.
In total, he’s failed to record a goal in 19 of the team’s 26 games this year. It’s just so not Makar-like. Usually he would be tearing up the scoreboard. He has nine goals in 26 games, which puts him on pace to record 28 goals this season, which comes up just short of his career-high of last season. Now, there’s no reason to panic, as there is plenty of time for him to get right.
Surprisingly, of the 15 power play goals (16.1 percent) the Avalanche have scored this season, a grand total of zero have been from Makar. That isn’t due to lack of trying, as they’re still trying to find a rhythm in their new power play system, which has generated some pretty awful results as of late. However, he has eight power play assists, which leads the team. I just wonder when the power play will become more consistent. When that starts to happen, the Avalanche will be even more dominant.
Avs fans and the team itself wants Makar to get going again, but the fact that the Avs have won nine of their last 10 games and don’t have a goal from Makar in their last four just speaks volumes to how good the Avs’ depth is.
In Colorado’s thumping of the Montreal Canadiens this past Saturday, the team put up seven goals while allowing just two. The seven goals were between five players, with Brock Nelson and captain Gabriel Landeskog each recording two and MacKinnon, Brent Burns, and Devon Toews each having one of their own. You want to talk about depth—this just the beginning. While Landeskog has had several goals taken off the board for several reasons, he’s finally had a streak where they haven’t been taken off. In his first full season back from a three-year absence, the captain has five goals and nine assists in 26 games.
Victor Olofsson has been a pleasant surprise addition to the Avs. In 26 games, he has six goals and 10 assists. He’s been singled out by a number of people in a positive way. He’s been earning the trust of head coach Jared Bednar, though he is also due for a goal as he hasn’t scored in his last seven games.
Jack Drury, who centers the third line, has four goals to go along with his average time on ice of 15:14, which is the most of his career since his rookie season with the Hurricanes. Additiionally, Parker Kelly has five goals to go along with his average time on ice of 12:08 through 26 games, which is currently the second-most minutes of his career. He reached his most minutes averaged last season with the Avs of 12:45, while playing 80 games.
The Avalanche allowed a maximum of one goal in 12 of their games this season, with a couple of shutouts in between. They have a goal differential of 50(!!!). The team has recorded 106 goals while allowing just 56. Diving deeper, that is an average of 4.07 goals scored a game while allowing an average of 2.15 a game.
While the team hasn’t necessarily needed Makar to be at the top of his game, it certainly would be a welcome addition to the scoring action. The Avs just got Valeri Nichushkin back after a lengthy absence. When Makar gets back to his old scoring self, good luck stopping the Colorado Avalanche.