The biggest problem for the Colorado Avalanche this season has been the power play. They’ve remained at or near the bottom of the league in terms of power play success rate, at 15.1 percent right now. Colorado had several opportunities on Saturday night against the Chicago Blackhawks, but were not successful at getting the puck in the net on the man-advantage.
Hilariously enough, Cale Makar scored almost immediately after one of the Blackhawks penalties expired. It was almost like the Hockey Gods did that on purpose, making a mockery of the team’s special teams. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, though: If Colorado doesn’t figure out how to score on the power play come playoff time, it could spell trouble for them.
This Avalanche team is hungry. They know that they are much better than what they sometimes leave out there on the ice. You would hope that they would dominate against a seventh-place team in the Blackhawks, but that just didn’t materialize. Sure, they had many more chances on Chicago’s goalie, Spencer Knight, than the Blackhawks did against Mackenzie Blackwood, but in games like this, I want to see them pull ahead sooner.
Getting back to the power play, head coach Jared Bednar didn’t seem too concerned about the Avs’ special teams units. He mentioned that they got “really specific in what we wanted to try to do, got really specific in what the opposition was going to do and talked to them about some of the reasons I don’t think it’s been working.”
Bednar continued:
" “Talked to them about some of the reasons I don’t think it’s been working—just like some positioning details. It’s a fine line between being good and bad, right? Execution is part of it, decision making is part of it. But also positioning and putting teams in tough spots if you know exactly how they’re going to kill something.”"Jared Bednar
There was one instance where the Avalanche made one too many passes on the power play and it ended up burning them. It’s small stuff like that which could hurt a team down the road. If you’re not executing and capitalizing, it gives the other team opportunities to attack back. That’s why it is crucial to have strong goaltending and defensive play—both of which the Avalanche have.
Colorado leads the league in goals with 221, with the Oilers in second place at 215. They have just 28 power play goals this season, tied for second-worst with four other teams. To put that into perspective, the Oilers lead the league in power play goals with 53.
Fans have been calling for the firing of Dave Hakstol, who is in charge of the power play. That might end up happening at some point, but as long as the Avalanche keep showing improvement in Hakstol’s and Bednar’s eyes, that might not happen. But at the end of the day, execution is the most important thing and if that does not happen on a consistent basis, we’ll be looking for another coach to handle those duties.
Honestly? Nathan MacKinnon’s comment early in the season about Avalanche fans being unhappy with the power play and how they “didn’t know what a good power play looked like” seems sillier after every failed power play attempt. Fans have the right to be upset with it when they don’t score. Until they start producing, fans will continue to make noise, and it won’t be a noise that players and coaches want to hear at Ball Arena.