The Colorado Avalanche power play has gone sub-zero cold the week before Christmas. To start the year, the Avalanche were one of the NHL's best in that category. A fact that arguably kept them afloat as they suffered through a cavalcade of injuries and bad goaltending.
Just how frosty is the power play? Over the last 20 games the Avalanche have converted on just 6 of 54 power play chances. That comes out to an abysmal 11% success rate. That is an embarrassingly low number for any club, but one with this level of top-tier talent should never see this kind of slump with what should be a key strength.
With the issue of Colorado's much discussed goalie problem in the rearview mirror, now seemed like the perfect time to capitalize on a positive vibes shift. The Avalanche have been getting solid play between the pipes from both halves of their new-look tandem since they arrived.
Scott Wedgewood recently posted the team's only shutout win against an offensively-gifted Devils squad in New Jersey. Mackenzie Blackwood was the Avs' best player in their last win against Nashville on Saturday. The Woodshed, as the duo has been nicknamed, are sturdy. They have seemingly solved what could have been an Achilles heel problem for a contender.
The fact that Colorado is now battling a completely different shortcoming is hard to reconcile. But, luckily, there is still plenty of time to figure things out.
When confronted with just how long the drought has gone on, it has been a minor blessing that more games weren't sacrificed. The Avalanche are 12-8 in that 20 game window. Not results to write home about, but survivable, if they get back on track.
The recent losses to Utah and Vancouver were two examples where the power play outage really contributed to the end result. The Avalanche went 0 for 3 on the man-advantage against Utah and an even more woeful 0 for 4 Monday night against the Canucks.
Drawing the issue even further into focus was the fact that Vancouver's second tally, which ended up being the game-winning goal, was a dreaded short-handed goal. Depth forward and former Avalanche player, Kiefer Sherwood had a career night with his first ever hat trick.
I'm never one to disparage an old friend, and in any other scenario, against any other foe, I would be thrilled for Sherwood. With 11 goals so far this season, he looks like a guy who has found an NHL home through hard work. Through two seasons in Colorado he was mostly suiting up for the AHL's Eagles, but in 27 games with the Avalanche, he had just one goal.
I bring up Sherwood, not just to recap the loss, but to make a point about how he got going. The first goal he scored was a classic grinder play, that happened because of persistence in front of the net. The second was the shorty off a turnover from a lazy pass, and the capper was on an empty net.
The Avalanche should not be giving up hat tricks to depth guys, But maybe that kind of clunker can serve as a wake-up call.
How can the Avalanche turn on a sputtering power play?
Your best players need to remember who they are. Simply put, a PP unit featuring Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen can't be this bad. Coach Bednar has been shuffling his other forwards up with the top unit to try and spark something.
We have seen Artturi Lehkonen, Valeri Nichushkin, Casey Mittelstadt and Ross Colton get looks during this stretch. Yet, to me, the core three are where it all starts for Colorado. The entries into the offensive zone have been an adventure unto themselves during the dry-spell. I feel like that's a mental issue as much as scheme.
Structurally, the Avalanche power play has looked too formulaic and thus perhaps predictable. When the Avalanche struggle, it looks as though they search for the perfect shot. This is not just on the man-advantage, but comes into sharper focus there.
It might sound so simple as to seem obvious, but I think the clearest answer is to shoot more pucks, period. The Avalanche have the skill and speed to get more creative with shot selection, and to get to potential rebounds and deflections.
Be less reliant on that beautiful one-timer getting past the goalie. It's more often those second and third cracks that are going to force the opposing net minder out of position.
This particular struggle has made me miss Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog more than ever. I just know that if he were out there, he would help them prioritize this kind of activity to get out of the rut they currently find themselves in.
Sadly, #92 is not coming back any time soon. The burden falls on the three Avalanche players who wear that extra A on their sweaters. They are not just three of the most talented hockey players on the planet, they are leaders for the team and must take it on themselves to be better.