Colorado Avalanche season snapshot

With the NHL pausing the 2019-20 regular season on March 12 due to the concerns surrounding the coronavirus, NHL.com is taking stock of each of the League's 31 teams.
Today, a snapshot of the Colorado Avalanche at the pause:

Colorado Avalanche

Record: 42-20-8, 92 points
Playoff position: Second place in Central Division, two points behind St. Louis Blues
After falling one win short of the Western Conference Final last season, the Avalanche needed to find secondary scoring to supplement their top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. General manager Joe Sakic did just that by trading for center Nazem Kadri and signing free agent forwards Andre Burakovsky, Joonas Donskoi and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.
With that expanded firepower, Colorado enjoyed a strong start, going 7-0-1 in its first eight games before injuries slowed its pace. Rantanen (28 games), goalie Philipp Grubauer (21), forward Matt Calvert (20), Kadri (19), Landeskog (16), defenseman Cale Makar (13), and Burakovsky (12) each missed significant time.
The Avalanche were in third place in the Central Division on Feb. 3, six points ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks and Winnipeg Jets. They had struggled on special teams up to that point, ranking 22nd on the power play (18.9 percent) and 21st on the penalty kill (79.1 percent), and were allowing 2.96 goals per game.

But the Avalanche went on a 12-2-1 run from Feb. 4-March 2 to pass the Dallas Stars for second and close the gap on the first-place St. Louis Blues. The emergence of first-year goalie Pavel Francouz helped solidify the defense during that stretch, when it allowed 2.16 goals per game, second in the NHL to the Jets (2.12). The penalty kill ranked sixth (87.3 percent).
Landeskog, who is Avalanche captain, provided the offense along with MacKinnon, who is fifth in the NHL with 93 points (35 goals, 58 assists) at the pause. Landeskog led Colorado with 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists) in the 20 games prior to the pause after having 22 in his first 34 games.
More Avalanche season snapshot coverage: Awards | Fantasy honors | Memorable moments

Breakout player

Pavel Francouz: In his first full NHL season, Francouz has stabilized what has been at times a shaky position for the Avalanche. The 29-year-old leads them in wins (21), goals-against average (2.41) and save percentage (.923), and he showed he is capable of handling the workload of a No. 1 goalie after Grubauer sustained a lower-body injury on Feb. 15. In Grubauer's absence, Francouz started 12 of 13 games before the pause, going 8-2-2 with a 2.37 GAA and .919 save percentage.
Makar is arguably the leading candidate for the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year with 50 points (12 goals, 38 assists) in 57 games. But after his performance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season (six points in 10 games), he has met expectations.

Statement win

Avalanche 7, Blues 3, Jan. 2: Entering this game, the Avalanche had lost six straight (0-3-3) and 15 of its previous 18 (3-12-3) against the Blues. And after losing the first two games against St. Louis this season by a combined score of 8-3, there were questions about whether Colorado could challenge the defending Stanley Cup champions in the Central. But as has been the case all season, MacKinnon put those questions to rest with a goal and three assists. The Avalanche also won against the Blues, 5-3, on Jan. 18.

Most compelling game

Los Angeles Kings 3, Avalanche 1, Feb. 15: Playing their first outdoor game since 2016, the Avalanche entered the third period tied 1-1 with the Kings in the 2020 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series at Falcon Stadium on the campus of the United States Air Force Academy. But Tyler Toffoli scored two more goals for Los Angeles to complete the first hat trick in NHL outdoor game history.