The Colorado Avalanche have been decimated by injuries early on in the 2024-25 season — but superstar defenseman Cale Makar is doing everything he can to plug the holes.
Makar recorded a goal and an assist in Wednesday night’s 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, giving him points in 11 straight contests to begin the campaign. He became just the second defenseman in NHL history with a season-opening point streak of 11 or more games, joining only legend Bobby Orr, per NHL Public Relations.
The 26-year-old has been outrageous in the early going; he currently leads the league with five goals and 19 points in 11 games. After conceding the Norris Trophy to Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes in 2023-24, the award looks to be Makar’s to lose this time around.
But despite another standout performance by the Calgary, Alberta native, the Avalanche suffered their second straight loss in a 2022 Stanley Cup Final rematch on Wednesday night.
The Lightning scored three goals early in the first period on goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen — his first start as a member of the Avalanche — and never relinquished the lead.
“Against teams like that, that have that high-end skill, you obviously expect them to make those plays, but it’s still not always easy to make the save on those plays,” Kahkonen said afterwards, per NHL.com’s Ryan Boulding. “But overall, obviously after a start like that, you just got to battle. You just got to try to make the next save.”
With that, the Avalanche are back to under .500 as the disappointing start continues.
Avalanche lose again despite Cale Makar’s heroics
Tampa Bay Lightning center Anthony Cirelli (71) scores an empty net goal against Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar (8) in the third period at Ball Arena. Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
“If you just look at the chances we gave up early in the game. It’s awareness mistakes like young players make in just not reading it quick enough and not getting quite in the right spot,” Avs head coach Jared Bednar said, per Boulding.
“I think if you take those four plays out of it, we defended hard and defended well against a really talented team that can be, I don’t want to say they’re an opportunistic team, but they’re a super dangerous team if you give them those type of chances.”
The Bolts have now won four of their last five games to improve to 7-3 on the season. Meanwhile, the Avalanche are down to 5-6; they were also beaten 5-2 by the Chicago Blackhawks at home on Monday night.
It’s been a streaky start for Colorado; the club lost its first four games before turning it around and going on a five-game heater. But after consecutive losses, things are starting to look shaky again.
It makes sense considering the Avalanche are decimated by injuries; Ross Colton, Miles Wood and Jonathan Drouin have all suffered ailments early on, joining regulars Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen on the shelf.
The Avalanche will look to get back in the win column against the Predators in Nashville on Saturday night — and Makar will look to keep his incredible point streak alive in the process.
This article first appeared on NHL on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.
