Prior to ringing in the New Year, the Colorado Avalanche had one more win to add to their impressive totals in the 2025-26 season. The latest victim was the St. Louis Blues who were embarrassed early and
often in their first meeting with the Avalanche this season. In the end, a 6-1 final gave Colorado their 30th win before the calendar flipped to 2026 in what looks like a promising year ahead.
The Game
It was over for the St. Louis Blues before five minutes had even elapsed from the game clock.
Colorado was on fire straight out of the gate and Jordan Binnington who surely wanted to quiet the critics on his Team Canada Olympic selection was overplaying in the St. Louis net from the get go. As such he was swimming around in the crease and left the back door wide open for Val Nichushkin to score one minute into the game.
It was a rout from there on as soon after Cale Makar scored on a shot through traffic but St. Louis challenged for goalie interference and had the goal overturned. It didn’t matter as a minute after that Nathan MacKinnon found more open cage and got the goal back for Colorado. Nichushkin scored 13 seconds later taking advantage of a juicy rebound for his second goal of the night. MacKinnon capped it off with a slap shot a minute following that to end the barrage. For those counting at home, Colorado had a 4-0 lead despite getting one goal called back before St. Louis even put a shot on goal all in five minutes into the game and that’s how the first period ultimately ended.
The second period was defined by five different minor penalties taken in which the Avalanche scored on one of their three power plays. Brock Nelson earned the tally to put Colorado up 5-0 by the end of the period.
In the final period Dalibor Dvorsky broke Mackenzie Blackwood’s shutout bid with a shot that found the net through a screen but Nichushkin got the last laugh with his hat trick goal as he abused the back door on Binnington one more time. A 6-1 final for Colorado in a win that was secured five minutes into the game. For good measure shots ended 43-13 in favor of the home team, too.
Takeaways
To cap off a dominant run in the first half of the season the Avalanche scored the fastest four goals in franchise history. Hot starts have been a trademark of this year’s team and tonight was no exception. With 30 wins and 67 points the Avalanche now have a 10 point lead on the league’s second place team the Dallas Stars.
Joel Kiviranta was announced before the game to have a lower body injury and Zakhar Bardakov was inserted into the lineup in his place. Due to the score Bardakov actually played over 13 minutes in his first game since December 9th.
Upcoming
Colorado’s first match of 2026 will be against the Carolina Hurricanes as the Avalanche travel east to begin a three-game road trip. Puck drop is at 5 p.m. MT on Saturday, January 3rd.
