OK, technically, the Avalanche reached the .500 mark for the first time since the fourth game of the season with their 5-1 win Saturday night against Edmonton at the Pepsi Center.
They improved to 17-16-1, so they've won as many games as they've lost, though the 1-0 overtime defeat to Carolina on Oct. 21 did earn them a point.
Five players scored a goal against the Oilers and 12 in all had at least one point. The Avalanche even got a power-play goal -- Tyson Barrie scored it -- to break 0-for-8 and 1-for-26 droughts with the man advantage.
The Avalanche have won five games in a row -- their longest streak since winning six March 25 - April 5, 2014 -- to remain three points behind Nashville for fifth place in the Central Division and the second wild card playoff position in the Western Conference.
A win Monday against Toronto would improve the home record to 7-7-1 and put them -- technically -- a game above .500 at 18-16-1 and give them plenty reason to enjoy the Christmas break before the work of nailing down a playoff position resumes.
Who would have thought as recently as a couple of weeks ago that getting into the playoffs would be a realistic possibility when the Avalanche were floundering around, managing to put together one three-game winning streak in the first 29 games?
But that was before Semyon Varlamov turned into a brick wall on skates, coach Patrick Roy put together the Gabriel Landeskog-Nathan MacKinnon-Matt Duchene combination, and the Avalanche began to get some scoring from the second, third and fourth lines.
(Team defense definitely regressed against the Oilers, who outshot the Avalanche 40-29; the count was a lopsided 70-47 including missed attempts and blocked shots.)
"Varly has been awesome and in front of him I think our confidence is growing," said Jarome Iginla, who ended a nine-game pointless slump with his 598th career goal Saturday. "It feels good, but we’ve had to claw back into just being around a playoff spot. Lots of hard work, and we want to win that last one going into the break. As tough as it's been as far as scoring, it's been fun because we're winning and getting into a groove."
The emergence of the Andreas Martinsen-Carl Soderberg-Blake Comeau line as an effective combination has played a pivotal role in the Avalanche's revival. The trio has combined for three goals and six assists during the five-game streak (MacKinnon's line has two goals and eight assists) while playing a grinding type game.
"We stuck together for the last two, three weeks," said Comeau, who scored his second shorthanded goal of the season 72 seconds into the game Saturday. "We're all learning how everyone plays, we're all really comfortable with each other. (Roy's) been matching us against other teams' top lines quite a bit, so as players that's a nice challenge. If we keep doing what we're doing I think we're going to create chances.
"It's definitely a different feeling (coming to the rink). We're a confident group, we've been doing a lot of really good things. I think the guys know we have a long ways to go, we've got a lot of points that we've got to make up for, but we're on the right track.
"Our division is not an easy division. It seems like every team is winning every night. We're playing well right now, but we're far from satisfied. We have to keep going. As long as we take care of our own business I think we'll be all right."