NHL Division Outlook: Central
Colorado Avalanche
Jan 27, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Colorado Avalanche center
Nathan MacKinnon(29) and defenseman
Nick Holden(2) and center
Maxime Talbot(25) and center
John Mitchell(7) celebrates MacKinnons goal against Dallas Stars goalie
Kari Lehtonen(not pictured) at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
After getting off to such a hot start, many were wondering whether or not the Colorado Avalanche would eventually fade away.
Going into the Olympic break, the Avs were showing no signs of slowing down, as first-year head coach Patrick Roy still has his team within shouting distance of St. Louis and Chicago in the Central.
First-overall draft pick Nathan MacKinnon was on a tear leading into the Olympic break, riding an eight-game point streak into the NHL’s two-week shutdown.
While the Avalanche don’t have a player averaging more than a point per game, they already have two 20-goal scorers (MacKinnon, and Ryan O’Reilly), with another three players with 17 or more (Matt Duchene, Paul Stastny, and captain Gabriel Landeskog.) However, they will need to get a bit more out of their secondary scoring.
Western Conference Standing: 5th
Division: 3rd
Record in Last 10 Games: 6-4-0
Top Scorers
- Matt Duchene (55 GP, 19-31-50)
- Gabriel Landeskog (57 GP, 18-30-48)
- Nathan MacKinnon (58 GP, 24-22-44)
Top Goaltender: Semyon Varlamov (46 GP, 28-11-5, 2.48 GAA, .924 SV%, 1 SO)