Avalanche Year 31 Recap (Part II: Don't Worry, Be Lehky)

When we last left the Colorado Avalanche, it was only the beginning. Seven games down, and a 4-2-1 record to start the season. The Avs came off a home-and-home against the Dallas Stars, which was split; regulation win in Dallas, shootout loss at home. Now, the season continued on with a number of games against Eastern Conference teams. Regarding the interconference games, while all games are important, the interconference games aren't as vital as the conference ones, and especially the division ones. It's not the end of the world if three point games occur in interconference games, but they are still as amazing.

Especially when said games feature your two favorite players going at it.

The first game in this batch was a home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and you know what that means. MacKinnon vs Crosby. That's a dream Cup Final for me, and I hope we get that before Crosby calls it a career. Epic battle aside, this battle didn't start well for the Avs. Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust scored 29 seconds apart, but we did get on the board thanks to Artturi Lehkonen. 2-1 Penguins after 20, though Lehkonen tied it up in the first minute of Period 2. Similar to Lehkonen's first goal, Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas assisted, and it would be all Avs the rest of the way. Gabriel Landeskog gave us the lead later on, and we wouldn't look back. TJ Hughes had his first of the year after that, with MacKinnon and Cale Makar assisting, and in the third, MacKinnon put one in on the power play (PPGs in this economy?!).

Avs won that one, 5-2, and next up for us was a trip to Philly to face a Flyers team who was having trouble winning games. Again, we started late, down 2-0 at first, and both goals scored by Matvei Michkov. Unfortunately, this time, there would be no comeback. Necas got us on the board, but in the 3rd, Noel Acciari made it 3-1. At least Hughes had his second goal in as many games, but the Avs dropped this one, 3-2. The game against the Devils in Jersey the following day was worse. While it was 1-1 after 20, with Gabriel Landeskog tying things up in the first, NJ started running away. A pair in the 2nd, and one in the 3rd made it 4-1 Devils. We would get two more, both coming from Lehkonen, but it wouldn't be enough.

October 23 against the Lightning treated us much better! Devon Toews scored 68 seconds into the game, and then at 5:52, it was Nazem Kadri on the power play. MacKinnon assisted on both goals, and Fedor Svechkov scored 24 seconds into the second period. 3-0 Avalanche! Jake Guentzel put TB on the board on the PP, but Lehkonen had put one in to make it 4-1. It was 4-2 after 40 once Guentzel struck again, and in the third period, MacKinnon made it 5-2, marking another four-point game for #29. So it was pretty much over, even with Charle-Edouard D'Astous getting his own tally. Necas put it in the empty net, and the final score was the Avs winning 6-3!

While hosting the Bolts went well for us, our trip to Nashville is one we'd like to forget. We looked so lost against the Predators, who were actually up 5-0 at one point. When we did, miraculously, get on the board, it was--you guessed it!--Lehkonen. A 6-2 loss that had Avs fans panicking just 12 games into this season. Giving up a shorthanded goal in the next game against the Devils also didn't help matters. But you know what did help? Five unanswered goals! Landeskog, Kadri, Kelly, MacKinnon, and Schwartz. The last four were in the third period! A 5-2 win over the Devils to ease our nerves.

A funny thing happened on Halloween. I received the ultimate treat: I finally got Avs Twitter Psychic right this season! I picked MacKinnon to score first against the Flames, and he did. That was the only tally in the first, and the second saw Kadri make it 2-0, and three minutes later, it was Lehkonen--holy cow, there's that name again! Brock Nelson made it 4-0, and yeah, it was a done deal. Joel Farabee ended our shutout bid late in the second, and Calgary added another one, but at 4:09 in the third, it was Lehkonen yet again! Another 5-2 win for the Avalanche!

This latest seven-game stretch saw us go 4-3 despite some hiccups, and overall, we're 8-5-1 with 17 points as we enter the month of November. So let's talk about this Lehkonen guy, shall we? Eight goals in this seven-game stretch. Eight. I've been so happy with Lehkonen since we traded for him (this upcoming March will mark five years). After scoring the clinching OT goal to get the Canadiens to the Final, he does it again with us in 2022, and scores the Cup clinching goal. He's been amazing for us ever since, and right now, he's leading the team in goals with twelve! At the moment, he's tied for second in the league overall, with only Kirill Kaprizov having more.

Lehkonen has 17 points overall, which is third on the team. MacKinnon's still leading the way with 24 points (9G/15A), while Martin Necas has 18 (7G/11A). Cale Makar's four assist performance on Saturday brings his point total up to 15 (3G/12A). In the net, Mackenzie Blackwood has been doing well for us with a 7-3 record, though he has a sub-.900 SV%, as does Scott Wedgewood. I've heard the grumblings. "We're not starting like last year!" What we did last year was impossible. That's hard to do once, let alone back-to-back years. The Avalanche will be just fine.

Our next seven games will see us in the Windy City on Monday, and then in Columbus on Tuesday (paying our old friend Val Nichushkin a visit). Following home games against the Predators (Thursday) and Red Wings (Saturday), it's an Eastern Canada road trip. We'll be in Toronto next Tuesday, Ottawa next Thursday, and Montréal next Saturday.

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