Eight is a Magic Number for the Avalanche

As the song says, "I had a feeling that tonight was gonna be a good night."

The reason why I was elated over the Colorado Avalanche's comeback win in Chicago wasn't just because it meant we could clinch the next day, it was because we made our scenario easier. The Avs entered this day, April 3, 2025, with a win and in scenario. Otherwise, we would have to look to the Anaheim Ducks' game against the Calgary Flames. The Avs were in Ohio facing the Columbus Blue Jackets, who were also playing for their playoff hopes, but they were decreasing. Not as bad as other teams, but Columbus was running out of time.

Mackenzie Blackwood was back in net against Elvis Merzlikins. The Avs struck quite early, and it was Nathan MacKinnon netting his 31st of the season in the fourth minute. Avs only enjoyed that lead for three minutes until Sean Monahan tied it up. Avs had the game's first power play, that was killed off, and it looked like the 1-1 score would hold up, until Brock Nelson gave Colorado the lead with under two minutes left. Cale Makar and Devon Toews assisted, and for Toews (who played with Nelson in Long Island), it was his second assist in the period. Avs led 2-1 after 20 minutes, but early in the second, Zach Aston-Reese tied it on a very weird bounce that went past Blackwood. This was minutes after Columbus' first PP was killed off, and later on, Boone Jenner gave Columbus their first lead. The assists came from Johnson and Johnson--Jack Johnson (our old boy from the Cup year) and Kent Johnson.

So the Jackets led 3-2. Boy, would we blow that up.

At 12:39, Charlie Coyle finally gets his first goal with Colorado, and the assists came from Miles Wood and Erik Johnson--the latter getting his first point back with the Avs. Less than 90 seconds later, Parker Kelly gives us our lead back, with Jack Drury assisting. Avs received a power play later on, and Cale Makar scores his 30th goal of the season! It's 5-3 and that's the score after 40 minutes, and we were not done. In the third period, Devon Toews made it 6-3! That was it, it was done, and we made sure of that just over a minute later, as Miles Wood made it 7-3! All that was left to do was count down the rest of the clock!

Can I just tell you how blessed I am that Cale Makar is our defenseman? Another three-point night, giving Makar a grand total of 90 points this season. He also became the first defenseman to score 30 goals since Mike Green did so in 2008-09. Also, Nathan MacKinnon had another three points, and that's his lead in the Ross Trophy race. MacKenzie Blackwood gave up a pair of softies, but he still did well in the face of adversity. Brock Nelson, Charlie Coyle, and Jack Drury, three of the players we traded for, racked up points. All of these factors over this entire season played a factor in us returning to the playoffs for the eighth straight season.

The Avalanche's current playoff streak is the second longest current streak in the NHL, trailing the Toronto Maple Leafs by one. Our last seven years have been fruitful for the most part; advanced every year except for 2018 and 2023, though 2018 saw the Avs ahead of schedule (at least, in my view). And of course, there's that Stanley Cup in 2022--the impressive 16-4 run. This Avs team can definitely make a run for our fourth Stanley Cup. We have MacKinnon, Makar, Lehkonen, Nichushkin, Toews, and steady enough goaltending to get us there. That's the exact thing we had in 2022, and look what happened.

So the Avs have five games remaining, and it starts with a trip to St. Louis on Saturday to face the red hot Blues. After that, we play our last two home games of the regular season, hosting the Golden Knights on Tuesday and hosting the Canucks on Thursday. The Avs' regular season ends in Southern California; heading to Los Angeles for Game 81 (next Saturday) and Anaheim for Game 82 (next Sunday).

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