The Colorado Avalanche’s are on an absolute tear just 21 games through the 2025-26 NHL season. They are winners of nine games in a row, leading to a 16-1-5 record and taking full control of everybody’s power rankings at this point.
Some games the Avalanche have played this year have seen stellar performances from one area of the team or another. Sometimes, everybody is clicking on all cylinders. Sometimes, there is just one player who absolutely dominates a game. In fact, that’s exactly what happened on Sunday night against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Scott Wedgewood took things into his own hands, stopping all 22 shots on goal the Blackhawks sent his way. The game consisted of just one goal: A nice ripper from Cale Makar late in the second period. There are times when a single goal changes everything. That was obviously what happened in this game. Sometimes, a single goal leads to a more fired up team. Though we saw just that one goal from either side, the Avalanche made things a lot more interesting for fans.
The Colorado Avalanche are finding ways to win all sorts of games
It was a terribly boring and perhaps concerning first period for the Avs, as the Blackhawks led in shots on goal 11-2. However, the Avalanche flipped the script by outshooting the Blackhawks 19-1 in the second frame. Chicago fought back by sending 10 shots on Wedgewood, compared to Colorado’s five. Colorado ended up winning in the shots department 26-22.
Against a young team like the Blackhawks, I would have loved for the Avs to dominate in every area. They won in the hits category, 29-21, had four less giveaways the Chicago (18-14), but two less takeaways (5-3).
One thing I really enjoy about this season’s team is that, even though the injuries have been devastating (Valeri Nichushkin, Logan O’Connor, Joel Kiviranta), the Avalanche have gotten some games in for several AHL players. Sunday night, it was Tristan Nielsen, who assisted on the Makar goal, and Jason Polin. Other nights, we’ve seen Taylor Makar.
At some point, I would love to see Nikita Prishchepov re-enter the lineup. However, he has been hurt up until recently and just got into his first game of the season for the Eagles, so it likely won’t be for a while that we see him at Ball Arena.
It’s amazing to see this Avalanche team buying in to what they are. There are a few things to work out like timing/chemistry with new lines and whatnot, but it’s really hard to complain about anything regarding the Avalanche right now. It’s possible that they eventually start cooling down, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Right now, Avs fans get to enjoy a superb start to a season they hope will end with hoisting the Stanley Cup.
The Avs are winning very consistently right now. They will have to play a little bit better against tougher competition going forward, but the bottom line is that they are finding ways to win, even if those ways are ugly. Their next game is on Wednesday night, when they host Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks.