*Photo from the Charlotte Observer*
Well, if you're going into Ball Arena to face the Colorado Avalanche, you're most likely heading for a loss. Mikko Rantanen scored, Gabe Landeskog scored, and the Avalanche defeated the Buffalo Sabres with a 4-1 win at home on Sunday night.
The Avalanche continue their reign of dominance at home with this win. It's their 18th straight win at home, which is the 5th longest home winning streak in NHL history. They also haven't lost in regulation at home lately either, having a 19-0-1 record in their last 20 home games, with their record now sitting at 32-8-3, first place in the Central Division.
Their success doesn't stop at home, however. Overall, they have now won 10 straight games, and are an impressive 15-0-1 in their last 16 games, having zero losses in regulation since the calendar turned to 2022. Colorado's 15 wins in January set an NHL record for wins in January, and also tied the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins for most wins in any month.
Colorado forward Nazem Kadri said of the success that "It's fun winning, for sure. It's pretty exceptional when you look at the history of the Avs, they've had some pretty good teams, so we're humbled by that. That being said, I feel like everyone feels that we can still be a little bit better. We're finding our game. Obviously, momentum is a huge key and we hope to continue that."
Drawing the start in net for the red hot Avalanche was Darcy Kuemper, who has found more success recently with a more even workload with Pavel Francouz. In the win, Kuemper saved 30 of 31 Buffalo shots, good for a .968 save percentage as his record bumps up to 21-5-1 this season.
The lone goal of the first period came from Landeskog, tallying his 19th goal of the season 7:49 into the game, making it 1-0 Avalanche. Dylan Cozens evened the score for the Sabres in the second period, with his 11th goal of the season 2:37 into the period tying things at 1-1, with Jeff Skinner picking up an assist.
Later in the second period, Kadri put the Avalanche back ahead, this time making it 2-1 on his 18th goal of the season, with Alex Newhook and Dylan Sikura assisting. On the power play at the 13:03 mark, Rantanen scored his 22nd goal of the season, increasing the Colorado lead to 3-1. Valeri Nichushkin scored on an empty net in the 3rd period to seal the 4-1 win for the Avalanche.
Colorado head coach Jared Bednar said postgame that "I've learned that we're a resilient group, pretty consistent. There were some games where we weren't perfect, but we've found different ways to win with different guys chipping in, which good teams do. It's been an amazing month for our guys."
Opposing Kuemper was Buffalo's Dustin Tokarski, who made his first start since November 29 after a lengthy bout with Covid-19, and what he described as a Covid fog afterwards that made it hard for him to get back to play. Tokarski had a good night all things considered, stopping 32 of 35 Colorado shots for a .914 save percentage.
Asked about getting back in action, Tokarski said that "It was awesome. I love playing with those guys. It worked out nicely to get back. It was a lot of fun out there tonight. I've heard the words day to day enough to know that's what it was, but it was just a lot of making sure that nothing could get worse, that going through a couple-hour game wasn't going to make anything worse."
Both teams get back in action on Tuesday, with the Avalanche hosting the Arizona Coyotes, where Kuemper is likely to start in net. The Sabres continue their road trip with a game against the Vegas Golden Knights, with Craig Anderson the likely starter.
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