Well, it wasn't going to last forever.
“It looked like we were out of gas," coach Jared Bednar told reporters Tuesday night after the Avalanche's winning streak ended at 10 games with a 4-2 loss in Montreal.
Except for goalie Jonathan Bernier, who stopped 36 of 39 shots, the Avalanche looked and played tired in the second game of a back-to-back set and third game in four days.
They showed some signs of life in the third period, but much too late in a game when they just didn't have it.
How will the Avalanche bounce back from their first loss since Dec. 27 (at home to Arizona, of all teams)? That's the big question, and playing in St. Louis on Thursday won't be an easy task.
But they get Wednesday to recover, lick their wounds and get ready to hit the ice again Thursday morning.
“As a group, we got to make sure we know why we won that many games in a row,… said Bernier, who won a career-best nine consecutive games. “We can’t get too down, obviously. Everybody is a little sour right now, but we have a big game in St. Louis. We got to make sure we finish strong before the All-Star (break). We just have to move on from this loss.…
The streak was the second longest in franchise history and the longest in the NHL this season. The Avalanche set the franchise record of 12 consecutive wins from Jan. 10-Feb. 7, 1999.
The Avalanche outscored teams 41-16 during the 10-game streak. They scored the first goal in all 10 games and trailed once -- for 94 seconds Monday in their 4-2 win in Toronto.
Problem is, the Central Division and Western Conference teams seem to win almost every night and the standings remain ridiculously tight.
The Avalanche (27-17-3) were in the second wild card playoff position before Wednesday's games, three points behind first wild card Dallas with two games in hand, four behind third-place St. Louis in the division with three games in hand.
"We all see the standings," Bednar said. "We had a great run, 10 games, and it hasn't moved us up the standings that much. We're just sitting right in the thick of things. There is a lot of hockey to be played."
As an aside, I can't stand the playoff format that has the second and third place teams in each division playing in the first round. Make the division winners the top two seeds and go 1 through 8 from there.