INSTANT REACTION: Avs ring in the new year in style with 6-1 win against the St. Louis Blues

What a way to end 2025! The Avs, with an insane first-period push, ring in the new year in style with a 6-1 win over the St. Louis Blues.

Tonight, with Mackenzie Blackwood – who was arguably snubbed for a spot on the 2026 Team Canada Olympic roster – the Avs faced newly announced Team Canada goaltender Jordan Binnington. He did not have a great start to his night.

The first period was a doozy. Valeri Nichushkin got things started exactly one minute into the game. Not long after, Team Canada defenseman Cale Makar swings a shot from just below the blue line, but it gets called back for goaltender interference.

Nathan MacKinnon, also named to the Team Canada preliminary roster for the 2026 Olympics, had a quick response to find the 2-0 lead for the Avs, his 400th career goal.

Nichushkin, 13 seconds later, found his second of the night to make it 3-0, and MacKinnon scored again, a little over a minute later, to also net his second of the night to bring the Avs into the second period up 4-0.

Not only did the Avs win the second period, but they did it in style! Brock Nelson scores on the power play to make it 5-0, the lone goal of the second period.

Avs went into the third period leading 34-7 in shots.

Mackenzie Blackwood’s shutout bid is snapped with 5:27 remaining in regulation. Dabilor Dvorsky capitalizes on a screen in front of Blackwood to put his team on the board with the team’s 13th shot of the night.

Val Nichushkin has a quick response though, netting his third of the night to complete the hat trick and make it 6-1.

The power play is BACK!

After Monday’s win over the Los Angeles Kings, Coach Jared Bednar said there was a little worry now surrounding the man-advantage.

When asked if there was some panic, he responded, point-blank: absolutely. “I mean, it’s because it’s been too long without us figuring it out,” he said, but followed that up by saying he still has a lot of faith in it.

While coaches, maybe, are supposed to say that, he followed that up with some new configurations at today’s morning skate.

The guys getting in some power play practice this morning.

PP1 (blue): MacKinnon, Lehkonen, Nelson, Nichushkin, Makar

PP2 (burgundy): Necas, Landeskog, Brindley, Olofsson, Toews pic.twitter.com/ad0K7P2CH6

— Bailey Curtis (@baileyycurtis) December 31, 2025

The Avs’ first power play of the night looked about as dangerous as it possibly could, and it converted because of it! Brock Nelson got the lone goal of the period on the man-advantage.

Pucks on net

The Avs ended their game against the Kings on Monday with a total of 26 shots on goal.

By the end of the second period of tonight’s game, they surpassed that total while also keeping the Blues at bay with ease.

First period: Avs, 20-4

Second period: Avs, 14-3

Total: 34-7.

The Blues may be toward the bottom of the division and the fourth-worst team in the NHL currently, but those are still insane numbers to put up in 40 minutes of hockey, not to mention wild numbers to hold a team to through that same amount of time.

Avs postgame pod