When the Boston Bruins set the NHL record for most points in a season with 135 in 2022-23, it was tough to believe any team could break it.
But lo and behold, three seasons later, the Colorado Avalanche are going to give the Bruins a run for their money.
While Boston’s 65–12-5 record in ’22-23 was absolutely stunning, the Avalanche are off to an even more impressive start this season with their 17-1-6 record out of the gate.
After picking up a loser point in Friday’s shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild, the Avalanche are now on pace for 136 points – one more than the record.
While a lot of things have to line up perfectly for the Avs to tie the Bruins’ mark – or improve on it – you only have to look at how dominant Colorado has been thus far this year to believe the Avalanche can pull off an amazing feat and set a new standard for the rest of the NHL to try living up to.
For instance: the Avs’ 4.00 goals-for per game is nearly half a goal more than the next best team the Anaheim Ducks at 3.63. That same dominance is there on defense, as Colorado’s goals-against average of 2.08 leads the league. Those are simply astonishing numbers that illustrate how deep, talented and balanced the Avalanche are.
Another metric that shows you how dominant the Avs are at the moment is the fact that 11 of Colorado’s 17 wins have come by three goals or more. And if you include games where the Avalanche have won by two goals or more, that number rises to 13. Of course, the Avs can also beat opponents in nailbiter games this season, such as the Utah Mammoth, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks in games decided by a single goal. But when the grand majority of your victories come in games where you had a terrific goal cushion, that says everything about how strong you are as a group.
But the most impressive part of Colorado’s season could be their 10-game win streak that ended on Friday. The Avalanche have won 12 of their past 14 games, and they show no sign of slowing down. In fact, if you remove the Avs’ four-game losing skid from the third week of October, their record would be 17-0-3. This is just jaw-dropping efficiency.
In a nice nod to fate, the only team that’s beaten the Avalanche in regulation this season is…the Bruins, who beat Colorado 3-2 on Oct. 25. But even then, that was a one-goal win. And that tells you the Avs have yet to be blown out in even a single game this year.
Colorado’s upcoming schedule is a chance to pad the record, facing the Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers and Nashville Predators (twice). They will have tougher tests against the Montreal Canadiens and the upstart Philadelphia Flyers, but the Avs will still be favored to win every game they play until further notice.
Colorado is nearly one-third of the way through the regular season, and while injuries and/or slumps could ratchet up their number of regulation-time losses in a hurry, we don’t see that happening. The Avalanche have too many excellent competitors, two solid goaltenders and too much skill to envision a prolonged stretch of subpar hockey for them.
If the hockey gods smile upon them in terms of their team health, there could be literally no stopping this Colorado team. They’ve got superstars in Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. They’ve got great coaching. And they’ve generated a whole heap of confidence in this start to their year.
So yes, this writer sees the Avalanche steaming straight toward the Bruins’ record season. Everything is going Colorado’s way – and with a little luck mixed in, the Avs could put up 135 points or more.
