Avalanche Beat Rangers for Ninth Straight Win

The Colorado Avalanche haven’t made the playoffs for four years, but the way things are going this season they could put an end to that. On January 20th, Colorado hosted the New York Rangers and won 3-1 behind a 27 save performance from goalie Jonathan Bernier. It was Colorado’s ninth straight win. The Avalanche improved to 26-16-3 (55 points), and at this point would have the final Wild Card in the Western Division.

Three different players scored goals for Colorado, including center Nathan MacKinnon, who also had an assist. MacKinnon has scored 26 goals and has 36 assists; his 59 points are second only to Nikita Kucherov’s league leading 61. MacKinnon has 19 points in this nine game winning streak.

The Avalanche signed veteran goalie Bernier away from Anaheim as a free agent in the off season, and they have to be glad they did. The #1 goalie, Semyon Varlamov (13-9-2, 2.87 GAA, 0.912 save percentage) has been out most of the month with a groin injury and probably won’t be back until after the All Star game. Bernier has filled in well this season, with a record of 13-7-1, 2.61 GAA, and a .919 save percentage; he’s won eight games in a row. Colorado also picked up goalie Andrew Hammond from Ottawa on November 5th as part of a multi player three way trade with Nashville, a trade that involved Colorado’s Matt Duchene going to the Senators.

One cloud on the horizon for the Avalanche is the schedule. Colorado hits the road for six straight road games and a total of 13 of the Avalanche’s next 16 are on the road. The team is just 8-9-2 on the road.