The Avs finally got back into the win Column a few times. Phillip Grubauer also recorded his first shutout of the season. They are still sitting 2nd in the Central going into the All-Star break. With only Nathan Mackinnon participating in the All-Star game, most of the Avs will likely welcome a few days off. Here's a cool picture I snapped of Phillip Grubauer getting interviewed after his first solo shutout of the season.













Phillip Grubauer 1st shutout of the season













1. Despite missing 8 games Cale Makar is tied for the points lead among all rookies with 35. He still appears to be the front runner for the Calder trophy this year. I saw a fun little fact on Reddit the other day: if Makar wins the Calder he would become just the second player in history to win both the Hobey Baker award (top NCAA college hockey player) and the Calder Trophy. The other player? Former Avalanche star Chris Drury.









2. The Avs-Blues season series has been an interesting one. Whichever team has had home ice advantage has really dominated the other. At 2-2 with the final contest in game 82 its not terribly far fetched to think that the final game of the season could have some serious playoff implications. Unfortunately for the Avs when determining a head to head tiebreaker the first home game of the team with 3 home games (in a 5-game series) is not included. The first tiebreaker is regulation/OT wins (not a shootout). If the Avs and Blues are tied in the regulation/OT win stat, the best the Avs can do right now is tie the head to head match up and go to the next tie-breaker (which would be goal differential). The Blues have built a sizable lead in the division, however given the Avs easier schedule going forward they could certainly make a run at the division title.









3. Today is the annual time of the year when the Detroit Red Wings come to town. I have to say I’ve very much enjoyed Detroit’s miserable season so far. The Red Wings are on pace to finish worse than the Avalanche did in their infamous 48-point season. The old bitter rival of the Avs has very much fallen on hard times.













4. Its important to remember that Avs misery wasn’t that long ago. The Avalanche season that shall not be named was only 3 seasons ago. The Avs turnaround in the last couple seasons has been remarkable and it really does feel like they’ve been good for a lot longer than they actually have. The future is no longer bright, the future is here. Recent struggles aside this year’s version of the Avs is probably the best team Colorado has put on the ice since the 2005 lockout. On the note of Detroit, I really have no doubt that Steve Yzerman will follow in the footsteps of his good friend Joe Sakic and bring the Red Wings back to relevancy. After all I don’t think any sane fan would complain about the possibility of the Avs and Red Wings doing battle in the Stanley Cup finals.









5. Though its very much not set in stone were likely looking at the Dallas Stars as a first-round opponent. If the Avs can’t find a way to catch up to the Blues, it seems all but certain that Dallas-Colorado will be the first-round match-up. I’m not really a fan of the way the playoff seeding is done because it really locks teams against each other that shouldn’t be meeting until the 2nd or 3rd round of the playoffs. Right now, both the Avs and the Stars would be leading the Pacific division entirely. Should it come to fruition it will certainly be an exciting series to watch but it would be a shame to see what could possibly be the 2nd and 3rd finishing western conference teams meeting in the first round.