The Colorado Avalanche scored five unanswered goals to stun the Penguins on Friday. The furious comeback helped the club overcome a sluggish start. The Avalanche have the offensive weapons to turn any game around in a hurry; nobody who studies puck would dispute that truth.
Still, for concerned Colorado fans, the power play remains under a microscope. Only one game in, new assistant Brett McLean can say they stopped the skid. That was thanks to a third period where Nathan MacKinnon finally thawed an icy-cold man advantage.
How much of that success is owed to McLean is up for debate. Head Coach Jared Bednar was quick to credit the guys on the ice in postgame comments. A single meeting with McLean probably isn't going to fix bad habits exhibited for over a year.
Even so, it should be noted that although MacKinnon's goal to make the score 5-2 was the only tally to register as a power play goal. The T.J. Hughes goal counted as such in Avalanche hearts. This was confirmed by MacKinnon, who said in their minds the special teams unit went 2-for-4.
This is understandable, as the power play was expiring just as Hughes put the one-timer off of MacKinnon's stick in the back of the net. I've always held the belief that the power play doesn't truly expire until the puck is moved out of the defending team's zone.
If you take MacKinnon's view of things, the Hughes tally becomes even bigger than a career-first for the rookie. If you aren't steeped in X's and O's, you might be wondering: what was actually different?
A player swap and some position shuffling did the trick
To begin with, Martin Necas got swapped out of PP1 for Jaden Schwartz. This was a change that actually occurred midway through the Wednesday loss to Dallas. The slight personnel change carried over to Friday, but interestingly enough was later reversed by MacKinnon's goal in the third period.
That kind of swap is what I like to think of as a little motivational prodding. Also, because it happened on Wednesday, it can be attributed to Bednar pushing buttons. This isn't some Brett McLean-mandated move.
More importantly, the change that seemed to have the most material effect was positional deployment. You might remember that on Thursday, I wrote about possibly taking Hughes off of PP1. The Avalanche didn't do that. But by the two chances that actually worked out: the Hughes goal and the MacKinnon conversion- Hughes was out of the bumper spot.
This is a major adjustment. The bumper, or the high slot, is maybe the most crucial spot on the ice during a man advantage. This is because the player is in prime position to make decisions. They are the connective brain between the defensemen at the point, the flanks, and the net front player.
Why then would Colorado want a rookie there in the first place? Maybe it has something to do with testing Hughes. The main thing Bednar praised about the former Michigan captain out of camp was his high hockey IQ.
Bednar did not point to the preseason hat trick and allude to him being an elite scorer. However, I do think there was this impulse to want to showcase those puck smarts early. Also, it's not without precedent in recent Avalanche history that an unlikely addition could get cooking from the proverbial kitchen.
I'm thinking of a notable stint by Ross Colton last season. At one point last year, Colton was so hot from the bumper that the Avalanche hoped he might stick as a sneaky top-six forward. Unfortunately, as was often the case with Colton, an injury stalled his momentum, and he never could quite regain that form.
As you might notice from the Hughes goal, he had been shifted down to net front duty, and it paid dividends. On MacKinnon's later goal, Hughes was again drifting toward the net when MacKinnon blasted home the one-timer on a feed from Cale Makar.
Colorado's coaching staff wants to give their promising young rookie every opportunity to succeed. It would be easier to demote an inexperienced player from a key special teams unit. I'm glad that the club has patience in this regard. Even if I was one of the many voices calling for a more drastic change just days ago.
One thing is certain: if the Avalanche want to avoid pesky slumps in the future, they have to be willing to mix up their personnel in a variety of ways. Predictability is the best friend of any opposing penalty kill. In addition, letting a player like Hughes gain experience in other roles might be the secret to keeping him around when the rest of the forward group is healthy.
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