Colorado Avalanche Need to Get the Power Play Going
The Colorado Avalanche have had an extremely stingy penalty kill so far this preseason, but their power play has not been productive.
The Colorado Avalanche have yet to allow a goal on the penalty kill, but they have only put in two goals on 19 total power play opportunities, while going zero for 11 in the last two games.
I may have spoken too soon when I said the Avalanche have been having success with the special teams.
Maybe it could be more aptly put by saying that the Avs have been defensively stout, but have had trouble offensively — at least on the power play. They are 21/21 on the penalty kill — which is amazing — but 2/19 on the power play is not so amazing.
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Perhaps that is the consequence of having Jared Bednar and Nolan Pratt as the main voices behind the bench — both with their main acumen on the defensive side of the puck.
But wait a second, who has control over the power play for the Avalanche? According to the Denver Post, it’s still Tim Army — a holdover from Patrick Roy’s coaching regime.
Now, I have nothing against Tim Army, but Nolan Pratt has been very successful with the defense and penalty kill, while Tim Army seems to be struggling with the offense and power play.
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Granted, the Avs have outscored their opponents 14-4 this preseason, but only two of those goals have happened on the power play. You could therefore come to the conclusion that Bednar’s 5-on-5 systems are the result of that offensive success, rather than Tim Army’s work with the forwards being the result.
Either way, something needs to be done about the power play before the season starts.
Conclusion
I don’t want to be the guy that subscribes to the higher power of Bednarism — or Prattism for that matter — but you must consider the pitfalls of Armyism. However, that would suggest that there is even such a thing as Armyism, which I don’t think there is.
Nonetheless, Tim Army — if he is indeed responsible for the power play — needs to figure out a way to get the power play going.
If the Avalanche can’t figure out a way to use eight power play opportunities to their advantage — Wednesday night’s game against the Stars — then something must be done.
That is a particularly salient point when you consider the fact that the Avs had 1:31 of 5-on-3 time in Wednesday night’s game and failed to connect on a goal. Why is that salient? Because the Avalanche did not score on one 5-on-3 opportunity the entirety of last season.
And, since Army was responsible for the forwards and power play last season then you must wonder if there is any sort of poignant connection.
Anyway, the power play is certainly something to keep an eye on as the season nears. And, with the Avalanche opening the year against the Stars — a rather potent offensive team — they’ll need to make sure that they take advantage of any and all opportunities to increase the score.
That’s all for today folks. Thanks for stopping by!
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