The Avalanche left Dallas with a shootout loss and an overtime point, but the bigger takeaway from this back-to-back was what Colorado showed over two games against its biggest rival: plenty of edge, some ugly special teams moments, and enough pushback to come away with 3 of 4 points.
Tuesday’s game had a nastier feel from the start. There were two fights, plus a pair of matching roughing penalties, and Nathan MacKinnon was right in the middle of the tone-setting.
Seven games into the 2026-27 season, he has already fought twice - a rare number for a player who is usually good for one scrap a year. Whatever the message was, it was loud.
MacKinnon’s willingness to mix it up has become part of the early-season story. His fight with Brandt Clarke came after Clarke delivered a cheap shot on Cale Makar on opening night, and rookie forward T.J.
Hughes earned some immediate respect that night by jumping in and taking a roughing penalty. On Tuesday, MacKinnon also had to deal with the possibility that Stars forward Roope Hintz had a reason to be looking for payback after a 2025-26 hamstring injury that followed a previous tangle with MacKinnon.
But the scrap MacKinnon seemed most pleased with involved Fedor Svechkov and Radek Faksa. In his postgame comments about his own fight, he praised Svechkov for defending Jaden Schwartz.
There’s also a larger pattern starting to show. A lot of the Avalanche’s physical edge is coming from newer faces, and MacKinnon appears to be encouraging players lower on the depth chart to stand up for each other.
Zachary L’Heureux, another offseason addition brought in by Joe Sakic for exactly that kind of bite, still hasn’t been seen much yet. Colorado being tougher is one thing.
Turning that into an actual advantage is another.
The power play remains the other big headache, and it still looks broken. Colorado opened the season by going 4-for-5 against Los Angeles, but since then it has added only one more power-play goal, a 5-on-3 conversion against Dallas. Even worse, the Avalanche have already given up three shorthanded goals in seven games.
At times, the issue has looked like overactivity and a loose, free-wheeling approach. That was part of the problem against the Kings, even if the Avs still scored on four chances that night. More recently, though, the old issue seems to be back: too much hesitation and not enough shooting.
The fix, at least from the outside, looks pretty simple. Cale Makar needs to keep firing from the point, which has worked for him for years.
He was out of the lineup entirely on Tuesday, and the team finally converted again. Makar is too dangerous to be passive in those situations.
T.J. Hughes may also need a break from the top unit for now.
That is not an indictment of the rookie, who has already been asked to handle a huge amount early in his career. But the way the Avalanche keep trying to funnel the puck to him on PP1 is starting to work against him, especially with the unit stuck in a slump.
It’s putting too much pressure on a young player, and it is not fair to expect his first NHL goal to come with that kind of burden.
The same frustration applies to how few shots Colorado is generating in those spots. Too often, the setup seems built around manufacturing a moment for Hughes that just isn’t there yet.
He has shown enough in the bottom six to keep playing, but that specific experiment looks like it is running out of steam. Gavin Brindley’s debut on Wednesday only sharpened that feeling, especially after he came within inches of being the hero on a double-doinker off both posts.
Even with the shootout loss, Colorado did enough in the game itself to show why this season still has plenty of upside. The Avalanche controlled the first period, and while the early goal by Schwartz was correctly waved off for offside, the second disallowed goal left room for debate. Gabriel Landeskog eventually broke the deadlock in the second, which felt fitting.
Then came the kind of breakdown that can wreck a game: a shorthanded goal against in the third. Colorado still didn’t fold. It answered and tied the score before regulation ended.
That resilience mattered. A point in October won’t decide anything on its own, but this one still counted, especially in a nationally televised back-to-back against Dallas. The Avalanche may still be sorting out their special teams and learning how best to channel all that physicality, but they left this set looking every bit like a team that can chase the Central Division again.
In Other News...
Cale Makar Shares Personal Update After Brief Avalanche Absence
Cale Makar is back with the Avalanche after stepping away for a game to be with his family for the birth of his twin sons, Mattie and Rhett. The star defenseman returned to the lineup and looked right at home in his usual role, logging 28 shifts and nearly 23 minutes of ice time as Colorado got back to business with one of its most important players available again.
Makar said his family is healthy, a welcome update after a brief absence that had little to do with hockey but plenty to do with life. For Avalanche fans, it was another reminder that the cornerstone piece of the roster is as settled off the ice as he is on it, especially after signing his eight-year deal last offseason and making clear he wants to spend his career in Colorado. [Read more 🡒]
Hakstols Sudden Avalanche Exit Raises An Obvious Timing Question
Dave Hakstols sudden departure from the Avalanche staff came soon after Jared Bednar signed a four-year contract extension, giving the move a natural layer of intrigue even before the explanation surfaced. Hakstol has already moved on to take the head coaching job at Arizona State, stepping into a program that is dealing with its own significant challenges after a recent player health incident.
For Colorado, the timing is what stands out most because it invites questions about how much of this was about opportunity and how much was about the way the coaching picture had just shifted in Denver. There has been speculation about the reasons behind Hakstols exit, but nothing has been confirmed, leaving the Avalanche with a notable change on the bench and one obvious thread still hanging. [Read more 🡒]
Brent Burns Is Still Chasing The One Prize Colorado Wants Most
Brent Burns has become one of the steadier veteran pieces on Colorados blue line, bringing 23 NHL seasons of experience and a rare durability that still stands out in todays game. After signing a one-year extension in June, he settled in as a dependable presence for the Avalanche, adding depth and offering the kind of edge that only comes from having seen just about everything over the course of a long career.
Burns also kept producing at the offensive end, finishing the 2025-26 season with 12 goals and 23 assists while extending his place in NHL history with the second-longest consecutive games played streak at 1,012. For a team still chasing the Stanley Cup, his value goes beyond the numbers. Colorado gets a veteran who can log minutes, provide stability and keep pushing toward the one prize that continues to define the season. [Read more 🡒]