Avalanche look to rumble up the standings

1 year ago  /  Mile High Hockey  /  Read Time: 1 minute 40 seconds

Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post


Bring on the rest of the season! Boy, being the Stanley Cup Champions will motivate you to do anything and think anything is possible.
Such is the case for the Colorado Avalanche. They sit in eighth in the Western Conference in the final wild card ahead of the Calgary Flames for the tiebreaker. But, it doesn’t seem to deter the Avs one bit.
In fact, even with the weekend’s festivities at the NHL All-Star Game, they were focused and still had sights set on a repeat at the season’s end. Nathan MacKinnon in particular stood out from the crowd in more ways than one.


"I think we can win it again"-Nathan MacKinnon#GoAvsGohttps://t.co/JoteHX1GyF— Locked on Avalanche ️ ️ (@LOPN_Avalanche) February 5, 2023





I just asked Nathan MacKinnon his favorite Taylor Swift song and he said he didn't know any of the names. Then I was like oh wait you love rap right? And he was like yeah I like Gunna he just got out. I said free Gunna. Nate said "he might have snitched"It's called journalism— Sara Civ (@SaraCivian) February 2, 2023



While the second tweet from Sara is hilarious and journalism at its finest, the Avs and MacKinnon are confident heading into the rest of the season. They’ve got 34 games to go, going against a good range of opponents, and have reinforcements on the way sooner rather than later.
Colorado has a unique start to their post-All-Star Break schedule, with this three-game road trip to the East Coast. Then, they play in three consecutive back-to-backs but all spaced out between at least two days and are split between home and road games (no home and home games or away and away games.)
Therefore, this unique February will challenge the Avs and have them needing to play at the top of their game every night. There’s no question they will compete and be a force to reckon with for the rest of the season as they look to ascend the standings.
They will need everything to go their way though. Of course, injuries need to slow down and stop in an ideal world. The same goes for hoping those injured now continue to stay on track for their recovery. Should things go their way in the standings with other teams around them, there’s no reason why the Avs can’t be in the race for the top spot in the Central Division or even the Western Conference.
It certainly isn’t out of reach. When they’ve won seven of their last eight games heading into the break and are getting injured players returning and at least one or two more coming down the line later, the only way to keep going is up.


Injury updates from Jared Bednar:•Bowen Byram and Valeri Nichushkin are good to go•Josh Manson is progressing. No decision yet on if he’ll make the upcoming trip •Gabriel Landeskog still on track to start skating soon— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) February 5, 2023



Unlike their namesake, they’re looking to climb the peak but like their namesake, they’ll look to leave an avalanche behind them and rumble on. How will the Avs do for the rest of the season? Let us know in the comments below!
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