The Colorado Avalanche look to right any wrongs they have endured as of late. That includes a putrid power play. In fact, it especially includes that awful power play. After allowing Dave Hakstol to depart to Arizona State, Brett McLean has taken over his job, which includes handling the special teams unit.
There have been flashes of good power play production since McLean’s hiring. Even though they have just one power play goal in the past three games in which McLean has been around, the team has shown that it can generate pressure. One of the problems, though, is their tendency to make one too many passes. With time winding down on power plays, you want your team to shoot as much as possible. That time, instead, was wasted. Going forward, that needs to be a focal point: Stop second-guessing and shoot the puck more. That’s what other teams do.
There were times in the loss to the Philadelphia Flyers where that was the case. There were some good looks out there on the ice, but it seems as though there is a lack of awareness or emergence to shoot the puck. Those are the decisions that can ultimately cost you a hockey game, and that’s what happened against Philadelphia. It’s inexcusable.
This team has impressive talent across the board, ranging from Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas to Cale Makar and Devon Toews. The forward duo has been together for a while now and should be able to get things together in the next couple of games. If not, it would be bad for the team because MacKinnon is regarded as the best player on the team, and Necas is one of his wingmen.
Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy is on fire this season, posting a record of 5-2 and a goals against average of 2.46. That is major bad news for the Avalanche at a time when they are technically still trying to find their way to consistency.
The silver lining about Vasilevskiy this season, however, is that his save percentage is below .900 through 7 games. This is the time where the Avalanche can strike and put up crazy numbers. If their power plays can start to capitalize more often, this team is going to be unstoppable, because once the little things begin to improve, teams start to feel things out and have more confidence as the season goes on.
If the Avalanche can solve Vasilevskiy on multiple occasions, including at least one power play, it would give them a lot of confidence as they head into more critical points of the regular season. Each point matters in the NHL, and getting them against a top-tier team in Tampa Bay would be huge.
We all know that the Avalanche have enough talent on paper. They just have to figure out that you cannot score if you don’t shoot. That is especially true on the power play. It’s time to address the elephant in the room.
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