This year, the Colorado Avalanche has been a miracle team. The Avalanche are in line for playoff bid with a solid seed after coming into the season with low expectations and being picked by many to be in the cellar of the Western Conference.

The Avalanche have started to plateau a little bit over the last little while have posted a 40-24-6 record so far on the season. Over the last ten games, they have only posted a .500 record.

Paul Stastny has been very consistent down the stretch, keeping his team in games by scoring consistently and he is the team’s leader and playmaker this year. He has a current streak of 6 straight games with 8 assists over 5 of those games and with at least one point in each of those games. His ability to facilitate and create for others is key for their offense, which has been solid. This year, the offense has scored 211 goals. Stastny has scored 17 himself and has assisted over 25% of the goals that have been scored for the team this year.  This just shows how effective he has been for the Avalanche on the season.

Craig Anderson has posted 2.47 goals against average, but that number doesn’t really tell the story of what this guy is capable and he has been solid this year. It is the fact that he has posted 7 shutouts on the year is the point to look.

It is enough to win a game, series, or even an entire postseason with the ability for a goaltender to take over the game in the playoffs. There is no telling what this team can do if Anderson can be consistent throughout the playoffs. The team will however struggle without his production.

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