Focus, consistency, good health: Why the Avalanche is the best team in the NHL right now

It s a pretty simple argument to make but the Colorado Avalanche is the best group in the NHL right now The Avs woke up Friday morning with the largest part points in the NHL and the best points percentage Pretty cut and dry on the surface but how Colorado has climbed to the top of the standings might give particular people pause about making that announcement A deeper dive into the numbers not only shows the Avs are the class of the NHL right now emphasis on right now but their dominance might be a little undersold at this point The group has come together guys are playing well and are committed to the systems that Jared Bednar has put in place Avs defenseman Josh Manson mentioned It just feels like things are clicking pretty easily right now We ve even seen moments where our tournament has gone to like another level I don t think we ve been at that level in the majority of the games just selected flashes of what can be It feels like a fun group to be part of We know it s fun and want to keep it going Let s start simple the record looks weird Colorado is - - The Avs have officially lost percent of their games There are teams out there with more than eight wins Anyone who isn t paying enough attention could see five losses after regulation and think the Avalanche has been fortunate to collect selected loser points It s the opposite though The Avs are dominating teams selected of the best clubs in the NHL during regulation Being - in overtime and - in shootouts is really unfortunate considering how well they ve played The Avs stumbled out of the starting blocks the past two seasons They were - and then - last year Two years ago a - start turned into - with a pair of embarrassing losses The last culminated with Bednar shredding his squad in the media after an - home loss to St Louis This edition of the Avs has been locked in and it shows Consistency That s what it is Bednar stated I can count the periods where we ve been not that great on one hand and we re games in There s no major changes It s a lot of the same personnel and we were good at the end of last year too But early in the season it s focus and consistency The numbers both traditional and advanced back up the Avalanche s dominance Colorado is only tied for sixth in goals per match but the Avs are third in goals against per contest and lead the NHL in goal differential at plus- They lead the NHL in shots on goal per battle at while yielding the fourth-fewest at That s nine shots better than the opponent per night the next closest organization is Utah at The dominance at a band level is even more pronounced with advanced statistics Colorado is collecting of the expected goals at -on- a metric that tries to bridge the gap between shot quantity and quality to show which teams are truly controlling the play the best Washington is second at which is also a strong number but the next squad Tampa Bay is at The gap between Colorado and Tampa Bay is bigger than the distance between the Lightning and the Buffalo Sabres in th place The Avs have invariably been a strong -on- squad in the Nathan MacKinnon-Cale Makar era but this is a different level at the start of the season Colorado finished last season eighth in xGF but the Avs were th in expected goals for xGF and th in expected goals against xGA This season is a different story The Avs are second in xGF so they re creating offense at an elite level on a per-game basis The big jump is on defense where Colorado is fourth in xGA Colorado has already shown it can win high-scoring games and low-scoring games Bednar didn t think his club had its best legs Tuesday night against the Lightning a great association riding a five-game win streak and the Avs still outshot them - The Avs look like the vintage Lightning clubs from the early part of this decade when they can beat you at any encounter you want to play became their calling card I feel like it s a good recipe for success reported Ross Colton who was on those Lightning teams I also think Bednar just preaches the analytics side of things when we do our meetings We re doing a really good job on the defensive side of the puck we re limiting chances and we have so numerous skilled guys in this room that the offense is just going to come Related Articles Gabe Landeskog isn t lighting up scoreboards but he helped Avalanche ward off Lightning in variety of strategies Mackenzie Blackwood full-steam ahead in return from procedure that sidelined goalie for first three weeks of season Taylor Makar s NHL debut with Avalanche became impromptu family reunion It s pretty special Martin Necas penalty kill help Avalanche prevail against Vegas Renck Avs deal with Martin Necas is easy to evaluate The payoff must come in playoffs The power play is the one area where the Avs have not been dominant but the talent and a years-long track record suggests regression to the norms is coming Meanwhile the penalty kill is also humming at a rate unseen in Denver for a long time Colorado is second in the league on the PK at The underlying numbers are even better the Avalanche leads the NHL in fewest expected goals allowed per minutes xGA while playing at -on- The Avs are the best -on- crew in the NHL right now They are arguably the best on the PK Combine those two things with a mostly healthy lineup solid goaltending one of the best collections of game-changing talent in the league and a renewed focus and that s how a club ends up at the top of standings and feeling like there s even a little more in there still to give I feel like we ve been playing through so numerous injuries the past couple of years Colton revealed Anytime you can knock on wood have a healthy lineup it s invariably nice Hopefully we can get Logan O Connor and Joel Kiviranta back soon but other guys have been playing well too It s been a group effort every night Want more Avalanche news Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis