The Colorado Avalanche are beginning to flash the kind of form that makes the rest of the league take notice.
They backed up a 4-0 shutout of the Detroit Red Wings with a 6-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, and the Toronto game offered a useful reminder of why this team is so dangerous. Colorado did not cruise. It had to answer a real pushback.
The Maple Leafs erased a 3-1 deficit and pulled even early in the third period, but the Avalanche wasted no time reclaiming control. Gabriel Landeskog put Colorado back in front just 51 seconds later, and the Avs kept rolling from there.
That response mattered. It showed a team with enough offense to win in a variety of ways and enough goaltending to survive when the game gets messy. Mackenzie Blackwood made 28 saves on 31 shots, including a key stop on Auston Matthews that helped keep Colorado in charge.
The scoring was spread around, too. Landeskog scored twice, while Brock Nelson, Devon Toews and Artturi Lehkonen also scored. Martin Necas added an empty-net goal, and 13 different Avalanche players finished with at least one point.
Nathan MacKinnon and Necas can still take over a game on their own. But Colorado looks even more dangerous when it does not need that kind of solo carry job. That depth scoring is exactly what the Avalanche will need if they want to make another serious run at the Stanley Cup.
That next test comes Thursday night in Ottawa, where Colorado will try to keep the momentum going against a Senators team that has been playing well.
There is also the matter of the Central Division race, and it is tightening up. The Nashville Predators have won six straight, including a 3-0 shutout of the Los Angeles Kings and a 4-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday. That surge has moved Nashville to 25 points, one ahead of Colorado’s 24, and into second place in the division behind the Minnesota Wild.
The Avalanche still have plenty to feel good about. Their offense remains one of the league’s most dangerous, and Blackwood’s recent play suggests the goaltending is there to support it.
But if Colorado wants to be viewed as a true Stanley Cup contender, it has to keep pace. Two straight wins are a strong step. Now the challenge is turning that into something bigger.
In Other News...
Avalanche Suddenly Face A Real Test Without Nathan MacKinnon
The Avalanche had to move quickly after Nathan MacKinnon left a game in the second period with a lower-body injury and did not return, a jolting development for a team that leans heavily on its top center for pace, production and momentum. In response, Colorado recalled forward Gavin Brindley from the Colorado Eagles, giving the lineup another fresh option as the club tries to absorb the loss without letting its attack lose too much rhythm.
Brindley has already been up and down from the AHL affiliate multiple times this season, so this is not unfamiliar territory for him. What makes this call-up more significant is the timing, with the Avalanche now needing someone to help fill the offensive gap while MacKinnon is out, and the next few games will offer a clearer picture of how well Colorado can manage the shift. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Prospect Is Making His Case In A Different Role
Gavin Brindley has already gotten a taste of both levels in the Avalanche organization, splitting time between the NHL and AHL during the 2025-26 season. The young forward has talked about how different those leagues can feel, not just in pace and detail but in the demands placed on a player trying to stick, and that experience has given him a clearer sense of where his game needs to go next.
Brindley has also started to carve out a different kind of value in the AHL, where his focus has shifted beyond simply producing and toward helping younger teammates along. With his background in international competition and time around notable players, he has seen enough to understand what it takes to keep moving up, and for Colorado that makes his development worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]
Former Avalanche Cup Winner Reopens A Breakup Colorado Fans Know Well
Erik Johnson has never been far from the conversation in Colorado, and his latest turn on ESPN brought back a familiar topic for Avalanche fans: the uneasy business of star players wanting out before their deals are done. The former Avalanche defenseman and Stanley Cup champion was blunt about the growing number of trade requests around the NHL, saying the trend has become hard to ignore as more players push for movement while still under contract.
For Colorado followers, the reference to past trade requests carries extra weight because the Duchene saga still lives in the franchise memory. Johnson pointed to that history while discussing other ongoing situations around the league, including Dylan Larkin and Nikita Kucherov, and framed the issue as one of commitment as much as leverage. It is the kind of league-wide debate that always seems to circle back to Colorado, where fans know exactly how disruptive those breakup stories can become. [Read more 🡒]