Avalanche win again, extend points streak

The Colorado Avalanche have now extended their points streak to 11 in a row after winning again on Thursday. They took care of the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 as they visited the Crypto.com Center.

The Avalanche Twitter tweeted out a replay of the last goal of the game by 25-year-old right winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel during the game on Thursday. Aube-Kubel started his career with Philadelphia in the 2018-2019 season, playing there for three complete seasons before being placed on waivers by the Flyers, being picked up by Colorado just seven games into the 2021-2022 season. He has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in his first 26 games as a member of the Avalanche.

The last time the Avalanche suffered a loss in regulation was December 16 against the Nashville Predators. They lost 5-2 in that matchup. Colorado is 10-0-1 during the 11 point streak. Their only overtime loss during the run also came to the Preds. In fact, the Colorado Avalanche have not lost back-to-back games, in either regulation or overtime, since October 19 and 21 against the Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers (the latter of whom are in the lead in the Eastern Conference).

According to Betway, Colorado is favored yet again this Saturday as 2021 Stanley Cup runners-up Montreal Canadiens travel to Denver. The Canadiens own the worst record in their division, conference and, in fact, the entire NHL at just 8-25-6. They are a far cry from the play that allowed them to take on the Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals last year. They are 2-5-3 in their last 10 games, those two wins accounting for a quarter of their wins on the season.

The Avalanche own the best record in the entire league at 27-8-3. If they were to increase their streak to 15, they would be in the top 50 in all-time NHL point streaks. They would be tied with eight other teams (four total franchises); the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings and New York Islanders.

Leading the team in points is Nazim Kadri with 51. He has 15 goals and 36 assists in 35 games played. Coming in second and third, respectively are Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon with 48 and 42 points. Goalies Pavel Francouz has a goals against average of 2.40 this year, while backup Darcy Kuemper sits at an average of 2.65. Leading the team in plus/minus is Devon Toews at plus-33. Toews was traded in the 2020-2021 season to the Avalanche by the New York Islanders, the only team he had played for up to that point.

Last year, Colorado finished with a Western Conference-best (and NHL-best) record of 39-14-4. After sweeping the St. Louis Blues in the first round, they were bounced by the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the Second Round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. They seem to be on a trajectory to yet again finish with the best record in the NHL in 2021-2022.

Tune in Saturday at 7:00pm ET to see if the best team in the NHL can increase their streak to 12 straight points.

Featured image courtesy of NHL

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