A November to Remember

I still remember January 2022. The NHL was coming off a mini-COVID outbreak that ended the 2021 calendar year, and in the second day of 2022, the Avs faced the Anaheim Ducks and won. Little did any of us know that it would be the start of a monstrous month that saw the Avs decide to not lose in regulation. As awesome as winning streaks are, and they are awesome, the point streaks are even more epic. Yes, they include losing in overtime or shootout, but teams who find a way to get points get a lot of notice.

Oh, and it was five months later that the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup. Just saying.

Fast forward three years later, and the Avs are monstrous. We entered Black Friday winning ten straight games, and we hadn't lost in regulation in over a month. We were on the road in an early game against the Minnesota Wild, the first meeting of the season between our longest standing division rivals. It was a battle between red-hot goalies: Scott Wedgewood and Jesper Wallstedt, and the Avs struck first, and of course, it was #29. Nathan MacKinnon made it 1-0, and that was the score after 20 minutes. They say all good things must come to an end at some point, and that was definitely the case in the 2nd period. After 221 minutes and 42 seconds of ice time, the puck got past us. Of course, it was Kirill Kaprizov. Of course it is. Kirill the Thrill tied it up, and just over six minutes later, he gave Minnesota the lead.

So for the first time in over a week, the Avs were trailing. However, Our Captain, Gabriel Landeskog, managed to tie it up in the third period after being knocked down on the ice, and that would lead to overtime being forced. Nothing was settled via OT, so it was shootout time. Mats Zuccarello and Martin Necas each had one in th first round, the superstars (Kaprizov and MacKinnon) were stopped in round 2, and in round 3, Boldy stuck, but Cale Makar was stopped. The 10-game winning streak was snapped, but the points streak continued on.

The Avs were back to work on the following day, this time at home against the Montreal Canadiens. And yes, this was our second time this season wearing the Quebec Nordiques jerseys, resurrecting the NHL's first provincial rivalry (the Battle of Quebec predated the Battle of Alberta by a year). During our entire time in the NHL, the Nords were the little brother to the Habs; the Habs were Original Six, had won a load of Cups, and were in a bigger city where English and French was nearly 50/50. The Nords were the transplant from the other league (the WHA), played in the smaller provincial capital where it was mostly French, and only reached past Round 2 twice prior to the move.

Mackenzie Blackwood was in net agianst Jakob Dobes, who had no chance. Brock Nelson made it 1-0, and he liked scoring so much that he decided to do it again on a weird scramble that saw the net knocked off by Josh Anderson. A challenge on the goal by Martin St. Louis fell flat, giving the Avs a power play. It was killed off, but the Avs' 2-0 lead remained after 20. In the second period, Brent Burns scored in the first minute, and after that, Nelson put one in and got the Hat Trick. Or so he thought.

Turns out, right as Nelson scored, a scoring change was made on the second goal of the 1st period. It was announced that the goal was actually credited to Gabriel Landeskog, so Nelson didn't have the hattie. Later on, Ivan Demidov ended the shutout bid, but in the final minute, Nathan MacKinnon scores for the 20th time this season to make it 5-1. That was the score after two periods, and it was all over but the shouting. The third period saw Devon Toews finally get his first goal of the season, Lane Hutson put one in for the Habs on the PP, and an Avs PP saw Landeskog strike again.

The Avs' November to remember ended with a 7-2 win over the Canadiens. The win completed a November where we went 11-0-2, with 10 of those wins being consecutive ones. We also only gave up 22 goals in the 13 games played. Not even two goals a game. We used to give up about two or three goals per game even in past good seasons, but this year, Wedgewood and Blackwood have really protected the net. MacKinnon became the first to reach 20 goals, Landeskog has three goals in two games, Makar is doing Makar things, and we are in the month of December with only one regulation loss. Holy Toledo!

The Avs will kick off the month of December at home against the Vancouver Canucks, but after that, it's a four game road trip that will see the Avs in Long Island (Thursday), MSG (Saturday), Philadelphia (Sunday), and Nashville (next Tuesday on TNT).

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