Weekend Takeaways: Dominant Avalanche putting NHL on notice

With a sizeable morass of mediocrity defining the NHL standings, it can be easy to forget about the cream at the top. And by most any metric you choose right now, that would be the Colorado Avalanche.

The Avs won their sixth straight contest on Sunday night, downing the New York Islanders 4-1 in Denver. Colorado has the best points percentage (.816) in the NHL and its single 60-minute loss through 19 contests is three fewer than any other squad.

The Avalanche are No. 1 in goals per game (4.11) while allowing the fewest goals against (2.37). They have the best expected goals percentage (58.82 per cent) per Moneypuck and the top high-danger Corsi percentage (61.06) per Natural Stat Trick.

Perhaps most impressively, the Avs†league-best goal-differential of plus-31 is more than double the plus-14 posted by the second-best team in that category, the Carolina Hurricanes.

If you want to ding the Avalanche for anything, a power play featuring Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar somehow only ranks 21st. Of course, the Big Foot Boys make up for that by killing 88.7 per cent of their penalties, a figure that ranks second.Â

Individually, MacKinnon leads the league in points (33) and goals (14), which is a surprise to absolutely no one. Far more attention-grabbing is the fact Scott Wedgewood has a .917 save percentage, a number topped by just Logan Thompson (.925) and Spencer Knight (.924) among goalies with at least seven games played. His solid work while presumed starter Mackenzie Blackwood was sidelined to start the year has already earned Wedgewood a million-dollar raise on a one-year contract extension inked late last week. Even if youâ€re not sold on him as a starter, it sure seems like the squad has the potential for a solid duo in goal when Blackwood finds his legs.

Crease talk is a good portal to the past for the Avs, because it was around this time last year they acquired Wedgewood — then Blackwood a few weeks later — to improve what had been a miserable situation in the blue paint.

Martin Necas scored his 13th goal of the year into an empty net on Sunday and his performance — along with his monster eight-year extension, signed one day before Halloween — has assuaged most of the pain from seeing major franchise pillar Mikko Rantanen traded about 10 months ago.

Speaking of friends from the past, Gabriel Landeskog is playing NHL hockey in the fall for the first time since 2021 and after going 16 games without a goal, heâ€s got two in his past three outings.

Landeskogâ€s injury combined with the free-agent departures of Nazem Kadri and Darcy Kuemper following Coloradoâ€s 2022 championship essentially knee-capped this club just as it summited the mountain.

Now, the Avalanche are serving notice theyâ€re serious about another climb.Â

• The Islanders may have lost on Sunday, but Emil Heineman potted his ninth goal of the campaign to open the scoring. To the outside world, Heineman — whoâ€s hit the net in three straight outings — was the overlooked piece in the huge swap that sent Noah Dobson to Montreal right before the 2025 NHL Draft. The Swedish winger, though, has looked like anything but a throw-in with his offensive performance this year, to say nothing of his hard-nosed approach. Give GM Mathieu Darche a solid grade on his first major deal in the big chair.

• Good as the Avalanche has been, the Stars are basically going win-for-win with them in the Central Division. Dallas collected its fifth straight ‘W†with a 5-1 stomping of Philly on Saturday and has outscored its opponents 12-1 in its past two outings. Jason Robertson is scorching right now, posting his third consecutive three-point outing versus the Flyers.Â

• The Kings won their fourth straight contest — all on the road, by the way — with a 1-0 whitewash of the Senators on Saturday. The next day, Los Angeles inked pending UFA Adrian Kempe to an eight-year extension, making it a spectacular weekend for the club and a horrible one for the last flickers of excitement around free agency. Lord help us all if Artemi Panarin re-ups with the Rangers and Alex Tuch does the same in Western New York.Â

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Red-and-white power rankings

1. Winnipeg Jets (11-7-0): The Jets squeaked out a 4-3 shootout win over the Flames on Saturday, but the game capped a disappointing roadie in which Winnipeg went 2-4-0 and was held to one goal or fewer in half of the six games.Â

2. Edmonton Oilers (9-7-4): Like the Jets, the Oilers pulled out an extra-time win on Saturday with a 4-3 W in Carolina. While the Oilers will take the points any way they can get them, itâ€s wild to think no team in the league — including the other one that plays in Alberta — has fewer 60-minute wins than Edmontonâ€s four.Â

3. Montreal Canadiens (10-6-2): After a couple years of being ravaged by injuries, the Habs got a bit of a reprieve last year. It seems like that hiatus is over, though, with Sundayâ€s announcement that Kirby Dach — who might have the worst injury luck of any guy in the NHL — is out four to six weeks with a fractured foot. That means Patrik Laine, Kaiden Guhle, Alex Newhook and now Dach are all out long-term for Montreal.Â

4. Ottawa Senators (9-6-4): The back half of November is a huge stretch for Ottawa, which begins a seven-game road trip in Anaheim on Thursday. After facing all three California teams, the Sens visit Vegas, St. Louis and Dallas before closing out the excursion in Montreal.Â

5. Toronto Maple Leafs (8-9-2): The Leafs†next two games are at home against the Blues and Blue Jackets. After that, itâ€s a six-game roadie. Can we non-hyperbolically call Tuesday versus lowly St. Louis and Thursday versus Columbus must-wins for the Buds?

6. Vancouver Canucks (9-9-2): One day after snapping a three-game losing skid Sunday night with a satisfying 6-2 victory in Tampa, the Canucks are right back at it in Sunrise facing the Panthers on Monday. If youâ€re looking for bright spots, Vancouver is averaging four goals per game in its past five outings.Â

7. Calgary Flames (5-12-3): After dropping a shootout loss on home ice to the Jets, Calgary is about to play seven of its next eight contests on the road. It feels like weâ€re at a tipping point in terms of earnestly exploring a sell-off and leaning into lottery odds.Â

• Two defencemen are poised to play game No. 1,000 in the NHL, with Jeff Petry set to hit the career milestone when the Panthers host Vancouver on Monday, while Justin Faulk is slated to put that notch on his belt when the Blues visit the Maple Leafs on Tuesday.Â

• The 2025-26 season will officially hit the quarter mark on Thursday night when its 328th contest will be played during a 12-game slate.

• Nikolaj Ehlers had a slow start to his Canes career — as in, zero goals through 11 games played — but he scored during Saturdayâ€s loss to the Oilers and has eight points in his past seven outings since finding the net for the first time on Nov. 4. The Dane, who signed a massive UFA deal with Carolina, will be back in Winnipeg on Friday, facing the Jets team that selected him ninth overall in 2014.

• Neither the Leafs nor Habs are having a ton of fun right now. Maybe the Forever Rivals will take out some of their frustrations on each other when they meet on Saturday night in Montreal on Hockey Night in Canada.

That same evening, the clubs who battled in the past two Cup finals will meet again in Florida when the Oilers visit the Panthers.Â

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