The Colorado Avalanche battle the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night in Denver with a chance to extend their already scorching start to the 2025-26 season.
Colorado has won eight in a row overall and 14 straight at home — where it is 16-0-2 this season — and has just two regulation losses through 38 games. The Avalanche have points in 28 of their last 29 games and are 10-0-1 in their last 11 to reach 65 points in just 38 games, second fastest all-time behind the 1929-30 Boston Bruins.
They’ve accomplished that with one of the worst power plays in the NHL. Colorado has converted on just 15.5% of its power-play opportunities and in the past five games has scored twice with the man advantage while allowing two short-handed goals.
During their current winning streak, the Avalanche have outscored opponents 35-17 but have been outdone 4-3 on the power play. Colorado was 0-for-4 in Monday night’s 5-2 win over Los Angeles while allowing the Kings a short-handed goal, and head coach Jared Bednar acknowledged there is frustration.
“It’s because it’s been too long without us figuring it out,” he said. “There’s concern for sure, but I still have lots of belief.”
That belief stems from the offensive talent. Nathan MacKinnon leads the NHL in goals with 32 and has 34 assists, putting him second overall in points (66) to Connor McDavid, and one away from 400 goals for his career.
Martin Necas is second on the Avalanche with 50 points (19 goals, 31 assists) and Cale Makar, who leads all defensemen in scoring, has 44 points (12 goals, 32 assists).
St. Louis has alternated wins and losses over its last nine games, including a 4-2 loss to red-hot Buffalo on Monday night, and faces its second straight opponent riding an eight-game winning streak.
The Blues led the Sabres 2-1 at one point but couldn’t sustain the advantage.
“What it really comes down to is we’ve got to have a better effort than that,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “We have to play with more purpose and pride, and the physicality just isn’t good enough right now.”
While the Avalanche have eight players with 20 or more points this season, the Blues have just three, led by Robert Thomas’ 29 (nine goals, 20 assists). Pavel Buchnevich has 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) and defenseman Justin Faulk has added 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists). Jake Neighbours also has 10 goals, tied with Faulk for the team lead.
Wednesday night will be a tough matchup for St. Louis, which has the worst goal differential in the NHL (minus-37) compared to Colorado’s plus-66, which is the best. The Blues’ 100 goals this season are the third-fewest in the league, and the Avalanche have allowed just 87 goals, tops in the NHL.
St. Louis did learn something from playing a streaking Buffalo team.
“We have to stay consistent throughout the whole game, especially when we’re playing a team on an eight-game winning streak,” Jimmy Snuggerud said.
–Field Level Media
