Another 10 games have been completed for the Colorado Avalanche, bringing their total games played to 72, taking place in the month of March. Consistent play has seen them play practically every other night.

Therefore, we have a good idea of what this team looks like heading into crunch time. The Avalanche went 6–4–1 in their last 10 games.

The good

Colorado’s recent run clinched a playoff spot, which was not at all a surprise. It came against the Chicago Blackhawks in a 4–1 win on March 20.

Part of their success has come on the power play. Yes, the power play ends up in the good section this time! Ever since the Olympic Break, Colorado has found success on the man advantage.

They have averaged around 30 percent with the acquisition of Nazem Kadri and building off the Olympic success for Martin Necas. Necas has moved to the spot where Nathan MacKinnon usually resided.

MacKinnon has since moved down low to be more of a passing threat. He’s shown it with nice passes to Kadri, who has been another reliable option.

The power play as a whole is still clipping in the high teens, but there is a sign of life. They are no longer last in the league on the man advantage. They’ve also had help from tons of returning players.

Gabriel Landeskog, Ross Colton, and Artturi Lehkonen all returned from injury. They made an impact in their first games back with goals and assists.

Furthermore, Logan O’Connor played his first game in almost a year. He, too, made an impact and looked as though he hadn’t missed a beat. He did this despite not having a full team practice and 5-on-5 play experience until he played against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Goaltending has still been solid with both Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood doing their thing. Health has still been good, and general play has been good too. Overall, there hasn’t been too much to complain about!

The bad

Perhaps the only downside has been the defense — and it’s only been in certain scenarios. Puck control issues have seen them give up turnovers and let in goals. They got punched in the mouth against the Penguins and the first of three games against the Winnipeg Jets in March.

Brent Burns has lost a step after a solid start to the year. He and Josh Manson have since moved down to the third pairing.


Jared Bednar even had to break up the usual pairing of Devon Toews and Cale Makar. While they still have played with each other, Brett Kulak has stepped up to a more advanced role similar to what he had in Pittsburgh and with the Edmonton Oilers.

Sam Malinski has also stepped up after trading away Sam Girard. His advanced role with Toews hasn’t been as bad, but there are still questions around defensive depth.

Nick Blankenburg was brought in to help answer those questions, but hasn’t really capitalized. Granted, he came into the side when they were depleted and playing with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. It created a weird dynamic and chemistry, with MacKinnon pointing out the difficulty of playing that way.


Nonetheless, it really is the only bad thing that happened in this stretch for Colorado. It’s being picky, but there could be issues if the injury bug ramps up again at season’s end.

The ugly

Perhaps the only ugly thing to happen was the losses. Three straight losses put the division in jeopardy. The third loss in that stretch came against the Dallas Stars in a shootout on March 18 at home.

They played a good game and still lost, with both teams missing players. It seemed disheartening and unencouraging. At the time, it moved the Stars within two points of Colorado atop the division, conference, and league.

Since then, the Avalanche have kept on winning while Dallas has kept on losing. The lead has been extended to seven points since that loss. Their loss last night to the Jets didn’t help, again with more defensive mishaps and mishandling of the puck. Again, being picky with this section, not a ton has been too ugly for Colorado.

Up Next

Only 10 more games are left in the regular season, and another edition of this series for the season, too. Three of these 10 games will come against the Calgary Flames, while also playing bottom-feeders, the Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues.

However, there are still big games to come. One more massive game against the Stars comes on April 4, with playoff seeding deciders against the Oilers, Vegas Golden Knights, and the regular-season finale against the Seattle Kraken.