The Colorado Avalanche lead the NHL with 37 points, and they are not even playing their best hockey. The team consistently secures wins, showing resilience even when not every player is performing at the top of their game.
“I don’t think we’ve played our best by any means yet. We have high expectations for this group. All in all, consistently, we’re showing up pretty much every night, and that’s hard to do in this league.
“All 32 teams would say the same thing, honestly, that they haven’t played their best game yet, and they haven’t found the best version of themselves, trying to find that,” Devon Toews said. “The team that can find it the quickest and then consistently get there is the one that’s going to win.”
The Avs have won their last nine games, with back-to-back shutouts over the weekend. The team’s only loss this month was in overtime against the San Jose Sharks, who it faces for a second time this season on Wednesday night.
“That’s ultimately the goal to get to our top level and our highest gear for 60 minutes and repeat that effort night in and night out,” captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “It is a game of mistakes. It is a game of ups and downs, and you’re playing against good teams. There’s no easy matchups. But for us, that’s the standard, and that’s what we’re looking for, and we’ll continue working towards it.”
The Avalanche have battled against highly-ranked teams, but lower-ranked teams pose their own challenges. It’s been a good gauge of the team’s ability to find ways to win, even when they are not 100% on their game.
“It’s good practice, because when you get on a run like this, we’re trying to keep this going, and I’ll guarantee we’re getting everyone’s best night. Just like we got Nashville’s best, one of the best games they played all year. Chicago has been playing really well. They played really well against us. We expect the same thing from the Sharks …,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “For us to be able to play and still carve out wins against teams that are playing their best and giving it their all, midseason, is a great test.”
Mackenzie Blackwood earned his first shutout of the season against the Nashville Predators when his team was not playing very well. That’s the nature of the game and the importance of solid goaltending.
“First couple games, I didn’t have my best stuff, and they had my back. Put up a few goals, gave me a little bit of a cushion, and helped me through,” Blackwood said. “It goes both ways. There’s going to be nights where you need their help and nights where they need yours. So good teams find a way.”
Colorado has proven it can persevere when the chips are down, and it is not at its highest level of competition. What can we expect when it is firing on all cylinders? The best is yet to come.