Homestand Part VII: Boy, Our Power Play Sucks!

After two and a half weeks and some wild moments, the Colorado Avalanche's seven-game homestand came to an end on Friday night. Here's how the homestand went as of this point. First off, a blow out win over the Ottawa Senators that saw the Avs score six times in the second period. This was followed by a shutout win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The third game of the homestand was an overtime loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs that snapped the Avs' 17-game home winning streak, but the fourth game saw us lose in regulation on our own ice for the first time this season; a 7-3 loss to the Nashville Predators.

The Avalanche rebounded with a strong win over the Washington Capitals, but the meeting with the Anaheim Ducks saw us defeated via shootout. And that brings us to the seventh and last game of this homestand, which saw us welcome the Philadelphia Flyers. For 26 years, the same thought enters my mind: "This was almost the Final." Both teams were in Game Seven of their respective Conference Finals in 2000, and came up short.

In this go-around, Mackenzie Blackwood was in net against Samuel Ersson. Avs dominated the opening frame, truly getting the shots on net. Despite this, it was the Flyers who scored first, and it was Owen Tippett. Even worse, the Avs had about 13 shots. Philly's goal came on their second shot on net. Flyers went on the power play, and it was successful. Denver Barkey, who assisted on Tippett's goal, made it 2-0 in favor of the team being outshot 3-1.

That was the score after 20 minutes, but things changed in the 2nd period. Parker Kelly put us on the board, and then three minutes later, it was Victor Olofsson. We have a tie game just like that. Just I was getting ready to pull for our first lead, Bobby Brink gave Philly their lead back; 32 seconds after we tied it. But 71 seconds later, Cale Makar tied it up! It was a whole new game! Avs came back to tie it, and though the second period ended with the game knotted up at 3, it looked like the Avs would eventually take the lead in the 3rd period.

And then, in just 56 seconds, Owen Tippett game Philly the lead right back. That's when the floodgates opened. Barely over a minute after that goal, Matvei Michkov scored. The Flyers took a two-goal lead in just two minutes. It gets worse. We needed something badly, and then, we were on the power play. Perfect chance to get back in it, right? Well, remember: this is the Avalanche's power play. It had been the only true flaw for the Avs this season, and it got worse. Owen Tippett managed to take the puck, break away... and complete the Hat Trick. So the power play was killed, and we were down by three. That was it. Michkov decided to put it in the empty net to add insult to injury.

Avs lost this one, 7-3, thanks to four Flyers goals in the third period. We need to talk about our power play, if you want to call it that. As of this writing, our PP is 27th in the league. Ironically, one of the five teams with a worse PP than ours: the Flyers (28th). Tippett's Hat Trick goal was our eighth shorthanded goal against this season. Eight! It's shocking that we have the league's best record with a power play that is absolutely putrid. Our penalty kill makes up for it, it's the best in the league. But to borrow the words of the late, great Peter McNab from a decade ago, "The Avalanche power play can't score to save its life."

The homestand is over and we went 3-2-2 in the stretch. We've actually lost four of our last five, but because the NHL is the only league where a loss isn't exactly a loss, it's a 1-2-2 stretch in our last five games, which is only one game below "NHL .500." The Avs will go on the road for the next four games, all against Atlantic Division teams. First off, we head to Toronto on Sunday, and then we will be off to Ottawa on Wednesday and Montreal on Thursday. The road trip concludes on Saturday in Detroit, which will be the first game in a home-and-home set against the Red Wings.

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