A Historic January from the Colorado Avalanche

Wow! What a January it was for the Colorado Avalanche thanks to their top three scorers in center Nazem Kedri, right wing Mikko Rantanen, and left wing Gabriel Landeskog leading the way during their 15 victories in January that also included a 10 game winning streak. Their goalie Darcy Kuemper was like a magnet to the puck, having 30 saves throughout the month.

The Avalanche’s 10 game winning streak tied the Pittsburgh Penguins for the longest this season and the Avalanche’s second-longest all-time. (The Avs won 12 straight from Jan. 10 to Feb. 7, 1999). The Avalanche also tied the NHL record for wins in any month with Pittsburgh (2013) and the Boston Bruins (2014) with a 15-0-1 month.

The Avalanche haven’t lost since Dec.16 in regulation at Nashville against the Predators and their 26-3-2 record in their last 31 games is the winningest stretch in the club’s history.

Kadri expressed his joy in the Avalanche’s winning ways by stating, “It’s fun to win, for sure,” who scored the second goal - the game-winner – to break a 1-1 tie in the second period. “It’s pretty exceptional if you look at the history of the Avs — we’ve had some pretty good teams. So, of course, we’re humbled by that.That being said, I don’t think there’s too many complacent guys in the dressing room. I feel like everyone feels that we could still be a little bit better.”

According to Mike Chambers of the Denver Post https://www.denverpost.com/2022/01/30/colorado-avalanche-buffalo-sabres-winning-streak/, the Avalanche are 25-0-2 when scoring first and 19-0 when leading after the first period, which is even more impressive considering they are without their top-line center in Nathan McKinnon. The Avalanche are at the top of the Western Conference standings over teams such as the Nashville Predators, Minnesota Wild, and Vegas Golden Knights, to name a few. They also sit at the very top of the Central Division and lead all teams in the West at this moment with goals scored for the season (181).

“It’s been a ton of fun, obviously — a lot of success coming our way, and winning a ton of hockey games has been fun, but like Naz said, I think as a group, we’ve done a great job of staying even-keel, humble about it and still trying to improve our game,” Kuemper said. “Each game, every day we practice or play, we’re trying to improve different things and pushing forward.”

Continuing to push forward is what Kuemper and the Avalanche will continue to do as they are without forward Darren Helm and defenseman Ryan Murray due to injuries, in addition to McKinnon and defenseman Bo Byram still out on personal leave. But, if the Avalanche keep this momentum going into the postseason, they might just find themselves holding up the Stanley Cup at the very end.