Avalanche Year 31 Recap (Part I: The First Seven Games)

The NHL is back and better than ever, though it's hard to improve from perfection.

The league comes with a few tweaks, though. The main one: it's now an 84-game season, and this is not an experiment like back in the 90s--it's permanent. With that, I decided to do something that would be easier for me as a writer on Vocal: I decided that I would divide the Colorado Avalanche recaps into equal groups. But groups of what? The beauty of the number 84: it's an immensely composite number. 84's factors are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 14, 21, 28, 42, and itself. I was torn between doing 12 seven-game recaps and seven 12-game recaps, but the latter would make me very complacent. So here's how it'll go:

This is the first of 12 separate recaps that will cover seven games each, totalling 84 games in all. While my description of the games won't be too long, I will get as much in as possible, and it will include records in these stretches and player stats. So let's get this started.

I was antsy for this season for weeks, and that's because of how last season ended. Everything went right for us, and then the Western Conference Final happened. It was a disastrous end for the Avs, but I knew this, not only would we be back, we'll be pissed off! The 2026-2027 NHL season started on September 29, but our season started on September 30. Overall, this is our 48th season in the NHL (counting our years in Quebec City), but this is our 47th season of play--our 31st in play in Denver. We made some good additions in the form of Jaden Schwartz--2019 Stanley Cup Champion Jaden Schwartz. However, another 2022 Champion went elsewhere, and it was Valeri Nichushkin, whose four goals in that Final I still treasure. Val is now in Columbus, playing with another high level defenseman in Zach Werenski.

Our season began at home against the Los Angeles Kings on September 30, and this was a playoff rematch; the Avalanche swept the Kings in Round 1 last year. We always seem to have explosive season openers, and this would be no different. An 8-4 victory that saw half of our goals scored on the Power Play! Four PP goals?! In one game?! Last year, it took us a week to score two PPGs! But that's not the main attribute. The main attribute was Nathan MacKinnon, who had two goals, fighting. Fighting! MacKinnon never fights! MacKinnon's a perennial Lady Byng Trophy nominee--a trophy given out for sportsmanship.

Mack's saying "The hell with that trophy," and yes, I cleaned it up.

I said MacKinnon was pissed off. Last year's ending left a bitter taste in so many mouths, but none more than MacKinnon. He's choosing violence, and more on that later, as the Avs remained home to take on the St. Louis Blues, our first game in our alternate third jerseys. This was another dominant win, 6-1, with Artturi Lehkonen putting in two--one of them thanks to Jordan Binnington. It's always great to see that we're still rent free in Binnington's head.

Following those two home games, the Avs went on the road for the first time, doing so by crossing the Northern border. We faced another division foe in Winnipeg, and that was a close one. Jaden Schwartz scored his first Avs goal, but after trailing 2-1, Fedor Svechkov tied the game in the third period. It looked like OT was on the horizon, but Kyle Connor put it in with 1:00 left, and that ended up being the difference. We made up for it in Calgary to the tune of a 7-3 victory that saw Schwartz, Cale Makar, and Devon Toews score two goals each. So the goals kept coming in, but on a Saturday night back at home against the Maple Leafs, they weren't. We went up 2-1 and 3-2, but Toronto really bounced back to the tune of four unanswered goals. A 6-3 home loss that saw William Nylander rack up five points.

Finally, there was the home-and-home set against the Dallas Stars, and the first half of that set was in Dallas as part of the NHL's annual Frozen Frenzy, and what a frenzy it was. Martin Necas took over and scored twice, but for the second time already, Nathan MacKinnon chose violence again. A fight against Roope Hintz that saw Mack bloodied. MacKinnon means business this season, and I absolutely love it! The Avs bested Dallas, 3-2, and on the following night, we faced them again, this time on our turf. It was a game that saw those damn crooked refs take goals from us too many times, but they couldn't deny Gabriel Landeskog's tally in the 2nd. Miro Heiskanen tied it, and then in the third, Dallas took the lead on a shortie. Brock Nelson, the Olympic Gold Medalist, tied it up, and for the first time this season, the Avs went to OT. OT was too quiet, except for Dallas missing a wide open net, and a shootout was needed, with Dallas winning 2-1.

So after our first seven games, the Avs are 4-2-1 with nine points. We're second in the league in scoring behind Edmonton, but there's one problem. In our opening game, the Avs PP went 4-for-5! Since then: 1-for-15. Nathan MacKinnon's leading the way with 12 points (5G/7A), while Martin Necas (4G/3A) and Cale Makar (3G/4A) each have seven points. Jaden Schwartz is coming to his own with the team; he has six points (three of each).

Regarding goaltending, with Mackenzie Blackwood healthy, he's getting the bulk of the Avs games. He's started five of the games, going 3-2, but his save percentage is below .900 and his GAA is just above 3.00. As for Scott Wedgewood, he's started twice (mainly on Avs back-to-backs), and he's 1-0-1 with a 2.40 GAA and a .902 SV%. A fairly good start for the Avs; currently on a pace to finish with 108 points, which is a far cry from last year, but we know the goal is to get #4. We have 77 of these things to go, and I sense a hell of a journey. And we'll still have our coach, Jared Bednar, for four more years, thank goodness.

Our next seven games will see us host the Pittsburgh Penguins (Friday), then we head to Philly (Monday), and New Jersey (Tuesday). We'll return home against the Tampa Bay Lightning (Next Friday), followed by a trip to Nashville for a divisional battle (Next Sunday), and it rounds out with hosting the Devils on the 28th and the Flames on Halloween.

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