The Colorado Avalanche are 20 games into the 2025–26 season, and sitting comfortably after a nice November. With Jared Bednar’s love for analyzing games in 10-game stretches, we’ll do the same here.

The good

November was very kind to the Avs. In the last 10 games, Colorado went 9–0–1 with the lone loss being against the San Jose Sharks in overtime on the second leg of a back-to-back. They’re atop the league with a record of 14–1–5 and 33 points. Therefore, the Avalanche still has only one regulation loss to their name.

The team is in the middle of an impressive streak, having won seven straight after Thursday’s win against the New York Rangers. Some of the most impressive games in this stretch include massive, high-scoring wins against the New Jersey Devils and Edmonton Oilers.

There were also competitive wins against the high-flying Anaheim Ducks, Vegas Golden Knights, and Tampa Bay Lightning. Plus, throw in an overtime win – finally – against the Vancouver Canucks thanks to Gavin Brindley. It earned him a new contract for two years with an AAV of $875K.

Another excellent performer who earned a new contract came in the crease, Scott Wedgewood. He continues to lead the league in wins with 12. He’s currently on track for some career highs with a 2.23 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage. Plus, he tacked on an assist against the Rangers for the first point of his career. Thus, his new one-year deal comes in at an AAV of $2.5 million.

Across the lineup, scoring has been plenty of scoring. The Avs have solidified themselves atop the league thanks to winning games in different ways. Nathan MacKinnon leads the league with 16 goals and 20 assists, despite the best efforts of young guns Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini. Twenty-two of those points alone have come in the last 10 games, averaging over two points a game.

Martin Necas also has 16 points in the same stretch. Cale Makar has 17 points in the last 10 games. Plus, it’s nice to see Brock Nelson fitting in on the second line. He’s got eight points in the last 10 games as well, on a four-game point streak.

As a team, Colorado is setting many records. They are the fourth team in NHL history to have only one regulation loss through the opening 20 games. The top five in plus/minus in the league are all Avs players. Plus, the team has scored the most goals in the league, while also allowing the fewest goals through the opening 20 games.

While depth has certainly helped, the Avs are still a top-heavy team, but more rounded than perhaps before. Bednar has stated that this team reminds him of 2022. The team shows this on the ice every night.

The bad

With all the good there is, there is not much going wrong for Colorado. If there’s anything bad that has popped up of late in November, it’s injuries.

Sam Girard returned from his upper-body injury to play. But the Avs lost Valeri Nichushkin, who is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Brindley, who was his replacement on the second line, exited Thursday night’s game with a sore lower-body injury of his own.

Joel Kiviranta is sidelined with another lower-body injury. Despite being labeled as out indefinitely, he has joined the team for practices as of late in a non-contract jersey.

Logan O’Connor was supposed to return by now from his offseason hip surgery. Some soft tissue issues, though, have hindered the return of the Mayor. If injuries keep popping up and becoming a problem, then it will be a real test for the Avs.

The ugly

Luckily, compared to last time out, the power play has gotten better. But it is still pretty ugly. The team is 13-of-78 on the man advantage, or 16.67% which is 22nd best in the league. If the Avalanche can find a way to score both 5-on-5 and on the power play, they’ll be even more unstoppable than they already are.

In this 10-game stretch, Colorado has given up a couple of shorthanded goals. The penalty kill has been good, though, and is fourth in the league at 85.9%. They also scored their first shorthanded goal in this stretch, thanks to Parker Kelly.

Something else ugly out of their control as of late has been the schedule. A mix of back-to-backs and long stretches with no games hasn’t been ideal for both the players and fans to get into a flow.

But it hasn’t mattered too much for the red-hot, league-leading Avalanche. They’ll look to continue this hot streak for the next 10 games heading into the end of November and into the holiday season.