Avalanche Focused on Special Teams in Edmonton

Although the round-robin games aren't "do or die" for the Colorado Avalanche, the team is using the matchups as a chance to strengthen its special-teams units. Both the power play and penalty kill have been a priority in practices and have been on display during games in Edmonton.

Colorado has spent plenty of time in odd-man situations in both the exhibition against the Minnesota Wild last Wednesday and in the first round-robin game against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday. There were a total of 22 combined penalties called in the two games, with 13 being assessed in the contest versus the Wild and nine being given in the Blues' outing.

Against St. Louis, Colorado killed three of its four infractions and scored on one of its five power-play opportunities in the 2-1 victory. The Blues' only goal of the game came on a power play in the first period, while the Avs' tally on the man advantage was the game-winner as Nazem Kadri scored in the last second of regulation.

"The power play at the end of the game was excellent," said head coach Jared Bednar. "I loved our mentality, it was 'move it, move it, shoot it, retrieve it, move it again, shoot it.' Dangerous looks, I think all of those guys had a shot. Both flanks, the middleman, Kadri just missed on the middleman opportunity, Cale (Makar) had one and he sent it through a crowd, and we ended up hitting the post and obviously jumping on the rebound. Excellent power play, I wish our power play looked like that every single opportunity."

Colorado has been focusing on special teams throughout practices in the Western Conference bubble, as having a strong power play and penalty kill will be important for the club during the postseason.

"You know, our power play has been looking sharp in practice," said forward Matt Nieto following a recent training session. "I'm sure they'll be ready to take advantage if we get power plays as well. Special teams this time of year is, you know it's crucial so the kill and the power play have to make sure we're sharp kind of right from the start."

The coaching staff established special teams as a key aspect of the game that they wanted to work on in the Phase 3 Training Camp, and it paid off against the Blues with Kadri power-play shot crossing the goal line with 0.1 seconds to go in the third period to prevent overtime.

As for the penalty kill, that unit faced a big test in the exhibition game against the Wild. The Avs were penalized nine times and had to kill eight, as Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Dumba took matching roughing penalties in the third period. Colorado only allowed one power-play goal in the contest, from Dumba in the first period.

"I think for me, [the high number of penalties] was maybe a bit of a bonus or a blessing in disguise," said Kadri following the exhibition game. "Just work on the PK and you know, get situated and organized there. You know, I don't see ourselves taking that many penalties when the games really count, but it's just something that you have to transition in. It's a bit of a bizarre situation, and guys just needed time to get back into the rhythm."

The Avalanche was middle of the pack in the league during the year with the man disadvantage, averaging 3.64 penalties per game but killing off 81.4 percent of them, tied for 13th in the NHL.

Special teams could again play a factor in the Avs next matchup on Wednesday against the Dallas Stars. During their four-game season series, the Avs had 18 power-play opportunities, while the Stars had the man advantage 17 times.

If Colorado wants to win round-robin play, the club must once again win the special-teams battle.