Fun With Facts: Avs-Pens Play Sunday Matinee

Some facts and figures ahead of today's game.

Who doesn’t love a matinee? The Avs and Penguins play this afternoon at Ball Arena in a matchup of two teams headed in opposite directions. Not just this season, but into the near future. Colorado’s Stanley Cup window is very much open (and might have added a year or two based on the moves made at the deadline). The Penguins? Based on some of their contract maneuvers in recent offseasons and the moves made at the deadline, their window is pretty much shut and it isn’t appearing to open again very soon.

So ahead of today’s tilt, I figured I would share some stats and figures to have ready and on-hand to impress all your friends at all the watch parties being held for this one. I’m sure all the local bars will allow the small minority of fans who want to watch that basketball tournament thingy to have one TV on in the corner.

But before we begin, another quick update on Dater… an “upDater” if you will. Poor AD can’t catch a break. After his recent surgery, his recovery has been less than stellar. I won’t speak to the nature of his condition, but he’s just been under the weather in recent weeks and it seems to be one thing after another. I understand that many of you subscribe to this page to get insights from a guy who has covered the team for decades and not some well-spoken, incredibly handsome Joe Sakic fanboy from New Hampshire, but here we are. I’m doing my best to give you daily content and analysis in the tall ginger’s absence. He will be back soon, but for right now, he’s on LTIR. 

Unlike some teams using it, we actually need it right now.

Okay, for some stats and fun facts ahead of today’s contest.

• Let’s start at the top… Nathan MacKinnon is good. His 119 points are just one back of Joe Sakic’s Avalanche record for points in a single season (120 in 1995-96). Ahead of Sakic is Peter Stastny three times (139, 124, 122) and Michel Goulet (122) all from the Nordiques era. The 139 from Stasny in 1981-82 might be out of reach for MacKinnon this season, but with 12 games left, he is headed for a total north of 124 and second place all-time.

• Then there’s the home streak. As it stands now, Nate has points in all 33 home games this season, tied with Wayne Gretzky for the second-best home streak at any point during a season in league history. A point today and he stands alone in second at 34 games, behind only the 40 of The Great One’s 1988-89 season. Mr. Gretzky scored a point in every home game of his first season as a King, the best stretch of home scoring in league history and the only performance better than MacKinnon’s 2023-24 campaign.

• His current 17-game point streak is the second-best figure in the NHL by any player this season, trailing only… his own 19-game stretch from November/December.

• He joins Gretzky as only the second player in NHL history to have two point streaks or 17 or more games in the same season, something Wayne did three times in his impressive career.

• At home, MacKinnon has amassed 73 points over the course of the streak. If he didn’t play a single one of his 37 road games this season, the Dogg would still rank 21st in the NHL in total scoring. 

• And then there’s this… perhaps the most insane stat of the season: If Nathan MacKinnon didn’t have a single point on the road this season, his 73 home points would still be good enough to be the outright scoring leader on 19 NHL teams and tied for the top mark with another two (NYI, STL). He has more points at home than any player on 21 teams has the entire year in all games. Come on.

• As a team, the Avs will look to win their ninth straight game, the best stretch since… two years ago (March 29 to April 16, 2022). Colorado got hot at the right time and rode that momentum to a solid postseason. Hopefully history can repeat itself.

• During the current eight-game heater, Colorado is outsourcing the opposition, 37-14. In its last 11 games (10-1-0), the team has scored 48 times, while allowing only 20. 

• The Avs are near perfect at home this season with 27 wins in a league-low 33 games played on home ice, including an 18-2-0 mark in the last 20. 

• In the 6-1 drubbing of the Blue Jackets on Friday, a few Avs set single-season career highs:

  • Nathan MacKinnon’s 43rd goal 

  • Mikko Rantanen’s 57th assist

  • Cale Makar’s 59th assist

  • Valeri Nichushkin’s 26th goal (incredible to think how good he’s been this season considering how much time he missed in the players’ assistance program)

• Colorado’s penalty kill didn’t allow a goal against Columbus… because it wasn’t called for a minor penalty the entire game. The only time an Avalanche player found himself in the box was Josh Manson for fighting. 

• In fact, the penalty kill hasn’t allowed a goal in the last six outings. Detroit was the last team to break through on a power play against the Avs back on March 6 in a 7-2 Colorado win. That is the only PPG allowed in the current eight-game win streak. 

• In that time, Colorado also has managed to go 9-for-27 (33.3%) on the man-advantage themselves. That is slightly better than the 5% the opposition has managed.

• A few Pens players will be returning to Denver for the first time this season today: Ryan Graves (2018-21), Matt Nieto (2016-20 & 2022-23) and Lars Eller (2022-23). Will we get a welcome back video for either Nieto or Eller? 

• It appears that Nikita Kovalenko will not be making his NHL debut today as the roster appears set with no changes from Friday. 

• Brandon Duhaime will be appearing in his 200th NHL game if he’s in the lineup today.

• A single point for Sam Girard will give him 200 for his career.

• In other hockey news, the NCAA Tournament field will be announced later today following a night of league championships. Cornell, Michigan Tech, Michigan State, Boston College, RIT and your Denver Pioneers have all punched their tickets to the national tourney with league titles. The remaining 10 will be announced tonight at 6:30 p.m. EASTERN! Unfortunately, Dartmouth — who many refer to as America’s Team — won’t be in the field once again for the 44th straight year after blowing a 3-1 third-period lead to Cornell in the ECAC Hockey semifinal Friday night in Lake Placid. Maybe that weighs heavy on Penguins forward and Dartmouth legend Drew O’Connor today…

• The NCAA Women’s National Championship is today at the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore Center in Durham. Wisconsin and Ohio State will compete for the title at 4 p.m. EASTERN!

The Class of 2022 posed with my son Blake in the fall of 2019 for a class photo. It was supposed to look like a draft day pic where the player wears the jersey and a kid poses with the team brass. You’ll notice No. 18 Drew O’Connor right above Blake. Today, he will be playing against the Avs and not celebrating their pick.

Let’s have a game and get two more points and get back to the top of the Central Division standings all alone!

Go Avs Go!