The Colorado Avalanche offense exploded Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils. The squad set new season-high numbers in goals (8) and overall points (23)! Much has already been said about the highlight reel performance.
For starters, it was capped off by a first ever career hat trick for offseason acquisition Victor Olofsson. In addition to that, fans saw the potential resurrection of a much maligned power play unit. Even so, our co-editor Nestor Quixtan isn't wrong in suggesting Avs Faithful should take that result with a grain of salt.
As incredible as it feels to see 4-for-6 (66%) conversion rate on the man advantage, it would be premature to say Colorado's problems are fixed. In some ways, they may have been due this sharp statistical spike. Even as this club has struggled on the power play in key moments the last few seasons, they still managed the 8th-best average in 2024-25.
This makes sense when you consider the immense talent the Avalanche have at their disposal. A positive progression to the mean was probably inevitable with Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar as the focal points of any unit in hockey. They are just that good.
MHS contributor Conor Lively is planning a recurring series throughout the season that will examine special teams strategies and trends as they develop; thus I will leave the deep-dive duty to him. But speaking in broad terms and without advanced analytics, there are simple truths that shined through Tuesday night.
Shoot. The. Puck. PLEASE.
Yes friends, sometimes hockey is that simple. Even head coach Jared Bednar spelled it out in plain, polite Canadian-English in post-game remarks. " I'll give you one thing. It looked like tonight, everyone wanted to shoot it".
The Avalanche power play was still led by Cale Makar, who earned a helper on every one of the club's four goals. Likewise, Nathan MacKinnon continued to prove why he is essential to team success, scoring twice. But they also broke out of their own routines, creating more movement, which in turn led to space and opportunities for Martin Necas, Victor Olofsson and Valeri Nichushkin.
The passes were crisp and confident right from the first Necas goal on a one-timer. So often the tried and true Makar-to-MacKinnon feed and shoot feels like a play on autopilot. When opponents know what you want to execute, it becomes much easier to defend.
On Tuesday, the Devils started the night either first or second in the National Hockey League with a successful penalty kill, hovering around 93%. After giving up four goals to Colorado, New Jersey plummeted to 10th place.
The Avalanche didn't just get hot, they cooked the Devils crispy. Sure it's a single game, but it's significant because of who Colorado did it against. The Avalanche were able to get some immediate turnaround revenge against the squad that bested them Saturday, and win emphatically.
The value in high-volume shooting should be apparent to all observers. Indeed sometimes the guy with a beer funnel on his head is actually right when he screams shoot the puck sixty times in two minutes.
Beyond the power play
Aside from the questions about the power play feast or famine, I'm also noticing good trends below Colorado's top line. For instance, if we look at the even-strength goals for the Avs against New Jersey, bottom-six production stands out big.
Zakhar Bardakov scored the first goal of his career, in just his sixth pro start. The aforementioned Victor Olofsson book-ended his hat trick night working well from the third line, and Parker Kelly netted what was somehow, improbably, my favorite goal of the game, on a breakaway where he deked Jacob Markstrom silly and scored a silky-smooth backhand.
Even amid the disappointing 4-game skid, where Colorado still managed to claw three points free, their depth has been noticeable: Jack Drury, Valeri Nichushkin and Brock Nelson were the scorers that sent those overtime losses from this past week into overtime in the first place.
Obviously, the organization wants better results once they get to extra time. But the guys coming up clutch to steal those points aren't who everyone might expect and I think that's a very welcome stat to see emerge. What it says to me is that the Colorado Avalanche aren't just a top-heavy roster.
Encouraging more players to shoot, in all situations sounds simple. But I think the impact it has on chemistry and togetherness really showed itself in this first real blowout win. New Jersey came in on the longest heater in the NHL and Colorado doubled them up. Put another way, the Avalanche would have tied them on power play goals or 5-on-5.
I would even venture to say that if the Avalanche want a spark in their sad 0-4 OT record, they should consider splitting up MacKinnon and Necas. When you only have three skaters out there, it looks like the all-gas no-breaks method might be detrimental. Give me MacKinnon and Nichushkin next time
The Avalanche are tied atop the Central Division with 16 points. Even if four of those points came from OT letdowns, that's the statistical equivalent of turning half of those games into regulation wins. The old adage of every point counts might typically be uttered a thousand times in April, but it's still true in October.
Just to drive home this reality, consider this nugget in the numbers. Last season, the Avalanche finished exactly four points behind Dallas, and had the same amount of overtime losses as they do in the 2025-26 campaign as of right now. That seemingly marginal difference could once again be the key to who gets home ice when it matters most.