Once again,
David Mencl started the season as the designated starting Goalie and once again he was outplayed early by
Terry Ross who before long took over that role, this time not to relinquish it.
The Avs were streaky early in the 2021-2022 season. In the month of October they lost 4 straight and then followed that up with 5 straight wins, topped off with a 6-1 demolishing of the Detroit Red Wings, who had added superstar Left Defenceman Josh Wihak (who had won the Hart Trophy, the Norris Trophy, and the Ted Lindsay Award the previous season) as a free agent in the off-season and would go on to have the 2nd best record in the Eastern Conference with 102 points.
But much like 2020-2021 the Avs got stronger in the New Year and in March they had a very good month with 11 games ending in wins and only 3 going the wrong way, including being shutout out 3-0 by the lowly Montreal Canadiens. The month also featured a statement game when the Avs went into Chicago to face the NHL's best team and came away with a convincing 5-1 victory.
And although the Avs finished the regular season with a pair of losses- on the road against the New York Rangers and then a home game against St. Louis- they had already sewn up a playoff spot by then.
Here is a look at final standings:
And let's also look at some of the NHL player stats leaders:
Next post we will look at a bit more detail about Avalanche players performances as well as some other team news from the season.