The Colorado Avalanche found some magic on the power play, but maybe not in the place anyone would expect.
ڳٱa year of power-play struggles and frustration, the Avs opened the 2026-27 campaign Wednesday night with four power-play goals in an 8-4 rout of the Los Angeles Kings.
Four or more power-play goals has only happened 12 times since the franchise moved to Denver. Who scored them was the bigger story, though.
Three of the four came from Colorado’s second unit.
“I think they did a fantastic job, but honestly it looks just like it did in practice,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said after the win. “Those guys have been executing at a high level. They’re all on the same page. They look great.”
The Avs haven’t had an impactful second power-play unit for years. Part of that is because the first unit, anchored by Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, often plays most of the two minutes.
Colorado scored only two power-play goals all of last season when MacKinnon wasn’t on the ice, and just four without Makar. One of those non-MacKinnon goals came in a game he missed, so it’s far to say the Avs had just one goal with five guys from PP2 on the ice last year — a number they tripled on opening night.
“I think pretty good’s an understatement,” Nazem Kadri said. “We were snapping it around. Pretty good players out there. Being part of a power play is being on the same page and understanding what guys are going to do with the puck. We’ve got a pretty good feel for that.”
Colorado’s new-look PP2 has five guys aged 31 or older. Even without Valeri Nichushkin, it also might be the most talented PP2 in the NHL.
Seven NHL teams currently have 3,000 or more career points on their first power-play unit, . There a couple of teams who can reach that milestone when injured players return as well.
The Avs could do it, too. Colorado’s PP1 currently has 2,687 career points between them and one guy, rookie T.J. Hughes, with zero. But the more interesting number is PP2’s career production — 2,614 points.
Colorado’s PP2 has more goals than 30 of 31 other second units — Pittsburgh’s had 2,668 in its season opener. It also has more goals than the first units of 23 other clubs.
Career points isn’t a perfect way to judge this — Montreal or San Jose isn’t trading its top unit for the Avs’ PP2, but it does say something about Colorado’s depth that the club can construct two groups with 2,600-plus points.
This PP2 is a balanced group — Devon Toews at the point, Kadri and Brock Nelson on the flanks, Jaden Schwartz and Artturi Lehkonen in the middle.
“We’ve talked about the number of weapons we have at 5-on-5, and that kind of transfers over to the power play too,” Nelson said. “The second unit right now … Naz has pretty elite offensive skills. (Toews) is super smart with it. (Schwartz) is extremely crafty, and the same for (Lehkonen). As a group, we’re just trying to find ways to attack and be ready.”
Nelson scored on a cross-crease pass from Schwartz. Lehkonen tallied twice — once on a one-timer from Nelson and again after a pass bounced off a Kings player right to him in the slot.
The big guns did get on the board, but only during a 5-on-3. Before anyone calls Colorado’s power play “fixed,” the top unit allowed a pair of shorthanded goals. Bednar said he didn’t like “everything, all of it” about both of those breakdowns.
It’s hard to take too much from one game, especially a wild one like opening night. But it’s worth noting that all five members of PP2 spent at least 2:21 on the ice with the extra man. None of the guys on PP1 played more than 4:11.
That’s roughly a two-thirds-to-one-third split, a departure from previous seasons when the top unit got bigger chunks of the power-play time share. After the game, Bednar noted he wants to play the second unit more this season.
“It’s going to be difficult because the top players want to be on the ice all the time,” Bednar said. “If they’re having success, they’re going to be. I think we have to evaluate it on a nightly basis. I don’t think we can be scared of using the second unit. We have good players on it.”
After five consecutive seasons in the NHL’s top eight in power-play proficiency, the Avs slipped all the way to 27th last year. Going 4-for-5 on opening night is certainly a strong start.
MacKinnon said the top unit has some work to do. A strong second group could give Bednar options on who plays on which unit and how much each plays.
“We want have a certain level of patience, but we can’t have the level of patience we had last year,” Bednar said. “If you’re not producing, not making the right decisions, not competing hard enough — whatever the case may be — then we’ve got to make a change.
“Two units really helps. What they did (Wednesday) night, I think that really helps.”
