All statistics referenced were accurate as of Tuesday morning.
THE GOOD
1. Forward Nathan MacKinnon scored a hat trick for the Colorado Avalanche Monday night, his second in the past year. Seeing MacKinnon getting back on the boards is a great post-Christmas gift. Seeing him ring up three scores brings hope for more scoring in the New Year.
2. Center Carl Soderberg’s play continues to impress as he has earned 16 points in his last 18 games after only earning nine points in his first 19 games with the Avalanche. Other teams are noticing his play as well, as he has drawn penalties from opposing players, putting the Avalanche on two power plays in Monday night’s game.
3. Colorado owns a winning record for the season to date, sitting at 18-17-2. They have gone 6-1-1 in their last eight games and are only four points out of a wild card spot, and six away from a Central Division playoff spot. And in case anyone missed it, they actually earned a point from an overtime loss. Those points add up. Does anyone remember a month ago when people were decrying the death of any postseason hopes? Maybe those fans will find hope entering the New Year as the Avs continue to rack up points.
4. The Avalanche also gained a winning road record of 12-9.
5. Winger Jack Skille notched three goals in the two games prior to the Christmas break.
6. Colorado is tied for third in NHL team scoring with 106 goals. They rank second in the Western Conference behind the league leading Dallas Stars. Also, now the Avalanche have scored more goals than they have allowed.
7. The Avalanche have scored first in their last ten games.
8. Forward Jarome Iginla scored his 599th goal against the Arizona Coyotes.
9. Forward Andreas Martinsen challenged Coyote’s Steve Downie after some chippy play (Downie has accrued over 1,000 penalty minutes in his career) and received some expert advice from teammates Cody McLeod and Iginla during the ensuing fight. If you missed it, the highlight is below.
10. Goalie Calvin Pickard rose to the occasion after being called up over the Christmas break, making 35 saves on 38 shots and earned a .921 save percentage against the San Jose Sharks. However, the win becomes even more impressive when considering War-on-Ice counted 83 shots attempted on the Avalanche.
11. The Avalanche scored on four out of six power play opportunities Monday night and have capitalized on six out of 13 chances in the last three games. Their power play overall has improved to the point where the team ranks tenth among all teams for the season, scoring 20.3% of the time.
12. Eight different Avalanche players have scored a total of 11 goals in the last three games. If we take out MacKinnon’s hat trick, then it’s eight separate players scoring a total of eight goals. Head Coach Patrick Roy has to be pleased with the scoring dispersal among the team, instead of just relying on a couple of players to do all the heavy lifting.
THE BAD
1. The loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs was both bad and ugly. It looked as if the players ran out of gas. Knowing backup Goaltender Reto Berra was injured in the pre-game warm ups helped soften the blow somewhat as that forced Roy to play starting Goaltender Semyon Varlamov again who was not at his best.
2. Nate Guenin suffered a head injury in the Maple Leafs game–bad. Playing down a defenseman for the third period-also bad, as evidenced by the barrage of goals the Maple Leafs scored.
3. The line shuffling appears confusing at this point. While John Mitchell provides great energy centering the third and/or fourth line, putting him on the top line looks risky. While spreading out the offensive power, especially since they have not been powerhouse scorers of late, Mikhail Grigorenko looks to be a better fit on the top line.
THE UGLY
1. Team Captain Gabriel Landeskog taking a puck to the face in the game against the Sharks outweighs any and all other potential ugly moments. Kudos to Sharks’ defenseman Dylan DeMelo for immediately moving to assist Landeskog off the ice. Best news: Landeskog returned to the ice for the third period. Everyone can now take a deep breath and relax.
WHAT TO WATCH
1. The Jarome Iginla 600 goal watch continues despite MacKinnon’s attempt to feed him an empty netter Monday night. He only needs one more score to join 18 other stellar names in the history books. Hopefully, he can hit the net at home.
2. Avs first round draft pick Mikko Rantanen is not only playing in the World Junior Hockey Championship tournament, he is the captain of the Finland squad. Sergei Boikov, another Colorado prospect, is playing for Russia in the competition as well.
3. Thursday night the Avalanche host the Chicago Blackhawks. With Chicago only six points ahead of Colorado in the standings, the New Year’s Eve game could prove pivotal to the Avs post season chances.
