NHL’S best power play unit built on talent, depth, aggressiveness
As Colorado has streaked into a tie for first place in the Western Conference, the only bet as sure as the explosiveness of the team’s top line is its equally effective power play.
Over and over, penalties have played out like a recipe for disaster for Avalanche opponents: Get sent to the penalty box, open up Pandora’s box. Colorado possesses the NHL’S No. 1 power-play unit and has scored 27 times in 86 opportunities (31.4 percent).
“The power-play success is some about our communication before the games, and pre-scouting the other teams for when we get the advantage,” Mikko Rantanen said. “But obviously, it’s more about mentality. You have to work hard on the power play, too. Most people always think it’s easy on the power play, that you can fool around. But it has to be sharp, focused.”
That intensity has been especially evident during the team’s recent surge.
Colorado is 8-0-2 over its last 10 games, a span during which the Avalanche has also dominated on the power play, scoring 13 times in 30 tries.
It’s a remarkable uptick in production from last season’s special-teams scoring, when Colorado ranked eighth in the league at 22.0 percent. Good, but certainly not as dangerous as the team’s top power-play unit of Rantanen, Mackinnon, Gabe Landeskog, Colin Wilson and Samuel Girard.
“This year, we’re building off each other,” Mackinnon said. “We have a good power-play coach with (assistant coach) Ray (Bennett), and good five guys who buy in. And like last year, we’re being aggressive and taking our shots at every opportunity.”
Mackinnon and Rantanen both lead Colorado with 13 power-play points while Landeskog has nine. But it hasn’t just been a threepronged attack.
“Our second unit has done a nice job contributing and chipping in with different guys,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “Plus, our top unit continues to chip away and find ways to score with different guys contributing. It’s been Girard lately, it was (Tyson) Barrie driving for a while, and with our forwards you can hand pick (who will score) on each given night.”
And as Colorado continues to find success with the man advantage, Bednar also emphasized the progress made — and progress still to be accomplished — on the shorthanded end of things.
The Avalanche have killed 80.6 percent of opposing power plays this season (19 goals allowed in 98 chances), ranking 11th in the league and down slightly from 83.3 percent a year ago. But the slight statistical dip is not of concern, as Bednar noted a handful of the newer Avalanche players in the lineup this season have taken quickly to the team’s attention to defensive detail on special teams.
“I’m really proud of the penalty kill this season, because we have some new personnel,” Bednar said. “We’re working some young guys into that — Vladislav Kamenev, Sheldon Dries — and also Matt Calvert’s a new guy on there. Along with some of the returning guys, they’ve gelled pretty well.”