It has been a known fact that power plays will win you Stanley Cups. Teams have to take advantage of the few chances they get to score that crucial goal. In the last ten years of Stanley Cup champions, all but two of the teams had top-ten power plays (2016 PIT and 2023 VGK). In 2022, the Colorado Avalanche ranked seventh at the end of the regular season at 24.4 percent. By the end of the playoffs in 2022, the Avalanche raised that percentage to 32.8. The power play this season has cost Colorado several victories so far, but will it cost them the Stanley Cup?

  • 2024: Florida Panthers (T-5th in NHL at 23.5% pre-playoffs)
  • 2023: Vegas Golden Knights (18th at 20.3%)
  • 2022: Colorado Avalanche (7th at 24.4%)
  • 2021: Tampa Bay Lightning (9th at 22.2%)
  • 2020: Tampa Bay Lightning (5th at 23.1%)
  • 2019: St. Louis Blues (10th at 21.1%)
  • 2018: Washington Capitals (7th at 22.5%)
  • 2017: Pittsburgh Penguins (4th at 23.1%)
  • 2016: Pittsburgh Penguins (16th at 18.4%)
  • 2015: Chicago Blackhawks (2nd at 26.8%)

Last year

We can look to last season as an excellent example of how the power play made a difference for the Avalanche. During the regular season, Colorado finished ranked eighth in the NHL at 24.8 percent. The power play was a highlight of the regular season. It would help propel Nathan MacKinnon to his first Hart Trophy and Cale Makar to his second Norris Trophy. Then the Avalanche took on the Dallas Stars in the playoffs. Colorado went 3-for-22, or 13.6 percent, on the power play when the Dallas Stars eliminated them in the first round in seven games.

Year after the Cup

The season after the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup, they headed to the playoffs once again. Colorado maintained the sixth-ranked power play in the NHL at 24.5 percent. Once the playoffs started, Colorado’s power play went dormant in their seven games against the Seattle Kraken. A suspension to Makar did not help with their 2-for-18, or 11.1 percent.

The one thing that the Avalanche are good at is even-strength goals. At the break for the Olympics, Colorado leads the NHL with 157 even-strength goals. The Avalanche will have to do a complete 180 on their power play if they want to have any success in the playoffs. History has shown that when they are doing poorly on the power-play, they do not get that far in the playoffs.