The Italy Blackout of September 2003 lasted three hours; the Northeast Blackout in the U.S. a month earlier lasted more than eight hours; and the infamous New York Blackout of 1977 lasted a full day.
But those were minor-league power outages.
Colorado Blackouts in 2007-08 have lasted six, nine and 17 days.
The latest lasted 127 minutes, 45 seconds.
But, on Saturday the lights were on, and somebody was home — at last.
The Avalanche’s power play had become a powerlessness play. Even with a one- man advantage, the Avs wandered aimlessly with helplessness and hopelessness.
For the season, the Avalanche is 30th in the NHL in power-play goals, and 30th is cold-in-the-ground last, below the dregs and dweebs.
The Avs went 0-for-24 in PPs during one five-game stretch in November, then didn’t score a power-play goal in eight consecutive games around the New Year.
Lately they stank again — 0-4, 0-4, 0-7, 0-3, 0-4, 1-6 (hallelujah!) and 0-3.
In the last four games, the power-pathetic Avs were zero-for-six, zilch-for- two, one-for-five and zip-for-six.
Despite the reunion of Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Adam Foote and Milan Hejduk, and regardless of the five-game winning streak, the Avs couldn’t have scored a power-play goal on an empty net in a meat locker.
They seem to be shooting granite curling stones.
So, forget our lack of faith when the Avalanche lined up for its first power play at 12:30 of the first period on Saturday afternoon. The Dallas Stars already had scored in 30 seconds of their first power play.
The No. 30 power-play team vs. the No. 1 penalty-kill team. Twenty- five seconds later, and with no goal in sight, the Avs committed another penalty, and the teams had level strength.
The Avs didn’t scratch or sniff on their next powerless-play opportunity, but they did score 5-on-5 to tie Dallas at 1 in the third period immediately after eradicating a penalty.
They were 1-for-March on power plays — and mucked pucks for more than six periods.
Finally, after all that, as Swedish Blond and Andrew Brunette played keepaway on the power play, the Avalanche broke the ice. Brunette scored, and the Avs were up for good (and great), 2-1.
Victory, sixth in a row (five over quality opponents), virtual tie for first place in the division and seventh overall in the conference.
“The power play has been our weakness all year,” Brunette stated (the obvious). “In the past few games, it’s been a lot better, but we haven’t gotten the results out of it.
“Maybe this will get the ball rolling.”
Wrong sport? How about “puck flying”?
“We have a lot of firepower now on the power play.”
The Avs must get past the power play/penalty kill (20th) problems. They can’t convert goals only 13 percent of the time and give up goals 19 percent of the time. (In comparison, the Stars are 18 percent and 13 percent).
Nevertheless, the third-period effort (three goals) by the Avalanche against Dallas was as impressive as the Nuggets’ second-half effort (63 points) against San Antonio on Friday night.
Texas, don’t mess with Colorado.
The Avs were dreadful in the opening 13 minutes.
“A 1 p.m. start is a little early for us,” Ian Laperriere said. “That’s a nap time usually. We played in the first period like we were still asleep. But we woke up in the second period and got our power play going in the third period.”
Laperriere pointed at a teammate and said: “No. 21 is making a big difference. He’s amazing. He’s bringing out the best in all of us. Can you believe he hasn’t played the past eight months?”
Forsberg produced his first two assists since rejoining the Avalanche. “I said it was going to take a few games for me to get comfortable. It was great to get a couple of assists, but this team is playing with a lot of confidence,” he said.
And with three seconds remaining, Paul Stastny’s exclamation point was a puck into unguarded mesh.
It was a Peter Paul Almond Joy kind of game for the Avs in front of the third sellout crowd (18,007) in the last four games at home. The other drew 17,621. Dismiss that “No Franchise For Old Men” accusation.
The Avs were hurrying out of The Can by 4 to board a charter to Dallas for the rematch tonight. Play turned chippy quickly Saturday, and no doubt will get chippier. The Stars and the Avs have a history.
But the Avalanche no longer can be considered Jose and the Pussycats. Theodore has allowed only two goals in three games — and hasn’t given up more than two in his past six. He was sensational again Saturday, and when he sprawled in the third period, the defense stood. The Avs are more dangerous. Theodore said he would like to play today. Coach Joel Quenne- ville said that might be a good idea.
The Avs were empowered Saturday. They transformed the Colorado Blackout into an Avalanche Whiteout.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com
