The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in the past week with the Colorado Avalanche

THE GOOD

1. The ‘Nines’ line composed of forwards Nathan MacKinnon (2 goal, 2 assist), Matt Duchene (2 goal, 3 assists) and Gabriel Landeskog (2 goal, 5 assists) continue to rack up points. While Duchene lost his consecutive point streak earlier in the week, he set a club record on Saturday night against the Jets for goals scored in November by tallying his 11^th goal of the month. Claude Lemieux originally set the record in 1995. Not to be lost in the stats, MacKinnon continues to push physical play around the net and opens up great scoring opportunities for his linemates. And, maybe even more important, team captain Landeskog loudly announced his return from suspension by racking up six points from two goals and four assists.

2. Team scoring places the Colorado Avalanche sixth among all NHL teams, with an average of 2.96 goals per game. The scoring concerns of last year, when they finished tied for 22^nd in goals scored, seem to be a distant memory.

3. The other forward lines have broken through and started scoring. Of particular interest in the last four games, both Blake Comeau and Carl Soderberg have tallied two goals and two assists each. Cody McLeod, of late the third wing on their line, also scored two important goals for the Avalanche. Chris Wagner, recently acquired off the waiver wire, hit net twice in the last three games for his first ever NHL goals. The defense is also bringing some much needed assistance with the likes of Francois Beauchemin bringing in three assists and Tyson Barrie adding two as well in the last four games.

4. Also of note, Brandon Gormley and Zach Redmond are quietly developing into an effective third line defensive pairing. Redmond also managed two assists in the last four games.

THE BAD

1. While the Avalanche rank sixth in goals scored, they have a minus 30 goal differential and rank fourth in goals allowed, giving up an average of 3.04 goals per game. Only the Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers have allowed more goals per game.

2. Colorado needs to quit giving their opponents breakaway opportunities, particularly when the Avs are on the power play. They are tied for the worst in the league in allowing short handed goals, letting five in net. While aggressive play to capitalize on scoring opportunities seems like a good idea, there needs to be better defensive movement to limit the breakaway chances.

THE UGLY

1. Jarome Iginla taking on the Winnipeg Jets’ Adam Lowry midway through the second period stirred up the Pepsi Center fans and brought some much needed energy to the Avalanche. He also showed age has not hampered his toughness, by going straight for the hits and not fooling around with holding his opponents jersey and jawing at him. New kids take note: a real hockey fight actually involves punching. Iginla’s fight was a thing of beauty, but Lowry’s effort looked ugly.

2. The inconsistent goaltending by the Avalanche – as a whole – can only be described as ugly. Regardless of goaltender, both Reto Berra and Semyon Varlamov exhibit odd defensive strategies, allowing the odd soft goal in and stopping the scary, “I thought we were dead” shot. Hopefully, one or both can develop the consistent excellence their previous flashes of greatness have hinted towards.

WHAT TO WATCH

1. Keep an eye out for recent AHL call up forward Andrew Agozzino. He led the San Antonio Rampage in scoring and Patrick Roy thought well enough of his first game against the Jets to move him from the fourth line to playing with Mikhail Grigorenko and Iginla.

2. Also, with all the scoring the Avalanche have done, the watch continues for when Jarome Iginla scores his 600^th career goal.