When the Colorado Avalanche are clicking on all cylinders that can look downright unbeatable. Like one of the scariest, most intimidating teams in the league. A true Stanley Cup favorite. We have not seen that version very much over the past couple of weeks, but it showed up in a big way on Thursday night in a huge 7-3 win over the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues.
Nazem Kadri scored two goals, Nathan MacKinnon and Sam Girard both finished with four points, and Cale Makar continued his Calder Tropy caliber season with another huge game in the win.
The win snapped what had been a three-game losing streak for Colorado and is just its third win in the past nine games.
Breaking out of this little funk isn’t the only reason this was a big night for the Avalanche.
Even though it’s only the halfway point of the season, this was still a pretty massive game in the Central Division and could have helped swing the top spot in a certain direction. The Blues entered the game with an eight-point lead over the Avalanche and were already 2-0 against them this season. A regulation win would have given them a 10-point cushion with only two more head-to-head meetings the rest of the way.
Certainly too soon to call it in St. Louis’ favor, but it would have a huge deficit for the Avalanche to overcome in half a season. But with Thursday’s win the Avalanche were able to close that gap down to just six points. They also still have a game in hand and two more head-to-head matchups ahead of them. That may not seem like much of a swing, but it could be massive in the big picture.
Thursday’s win is only the fourth time the Avalanche have beaten the Blues in their past 17 meetings. It also snapped a six-game losing streak against the Blues.
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.