The time has come to talk about the Colorado Avalanche’s power play. Entering Saturday night’s action, the Avs are 17th in the league with a 20.9% power play rating.
That’s not bad, but it’s not exactly good.
That 20.9% is good enough for the middle of the pack. But that’s not good enough for a Stanley Cup contender. Moreover, it’s not nearly good enough for a team with the firepower Colorado has.
The Avs are not the only top team struggling with the man advantage this season. The Dallas Stars are 27th in the league, with the Boston Bruins 30th. The Toronto Maple Leafs, with the firepower they possess, are slightly below the Avalanche with a 20.8% power play rating.
It seems as though it’s a trend this season to find top teams struggling to score on the power play. But is it a question of players finding it difficult to score? Or, could it be that other teams have better adapted to the penalty kill?
That’s an interesting point to consider.
On the whole, we’ve seen several teams drastically improve their penalty-killing. The Leafs come to mind. The Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, and Washington Capitals have all improved their play shorthanded.
So, it seems that teams have better adapted to playing a man down across the league. That situation means that teams also need to adjust to overcome other teams’ improved penalty killing.
That begs the question: What can the Colorado Avalanche do to improve their power play?