The Avalanche’s comeback win over the Penguins on Friday had all the drama of a team flipping the switch in a hurry. After a sluggish start, Colorado rattled off five straight goals and turned the game on its head. That kind of firepower has been part of the script for this team before, but the power play has been the part under the harshest light.
In this one, though, the man advantage finally showed life. New assistant Brett McLean can at least point to a night where the skid was interrupted, even if one game is nowhere near enough to explain a broader turnaround. Head coach Jared Bednar made sure to give credit to the players on the ice afterward, and it’s fair to say one meeting with McLean isn’t going to erase bad habits that have been around for more than a year.
Still, Colorado’s special teams did get something out of the night. Nathan MacKinnon’s third-period goal was the only one officially counted as a power-play tally, but the Avalanche considered T.J.
Hughes’ goal part of that same sequence. MacKinnon said in their minds the special teams unit went 2-for-4, and that tracks with how the play unfolded.
The power play was about to expire when Hughes buried the one-timer off MacKinnon’s stick, a goal that came before the puck had clearly left the defensive zone.
That distinction matters when you’re trying to figure out what changed. The answer wasn’t some sweeping overhaul. It was a couple of small moves that made a real difference.
One of them was a personnel swap: Martin Necas was bumped off PP1 in favor of Jaden Schwartz. That change first showed up midway through Wednesday’s loss to Dallas, carried into Friday, and then was later undone by MacKinnon’s goal in the third period.
It’s the kind of tweak that feels less like a grand redesign and more like a little push from the coaching staff. And because it started on Wednesday, it’s more about Bednar turning the dial than McLean making a brand-new call.
The bigger adjustment came with how Colorado used Hughes. The Avalanche didn’t remove the rookie from the top unit, but they did move him out of the bumper spot by the time the two chances that actually paid off came around.
That’s a significant change. The bumper, or high slot, is the brain center of a power play - the spot where a player has to connect the points, the wings and the net front.
So why put Hughes there in the first place? The simplest answer is that Colorado wanted to test him.
Bednar’s praise for the former Michigan captain out of camp centered on his hockey IQ, not just on the preseason hat trick that caught attention. There was clearly an idea that his mind for the game could make him useful in that demanding role.
The move away from that spot seemed to help. Hughes shifted closer to the net on his goal, and the result was immediate. On MacKinnon’s later power-play marker, he was again drifting toward the crease when MacKinnon finished the one-timer from Cale Makar.
Colorado has every reason to be patient with a rookie it clearly wants to develop. It would be the easy route to pull an inexperienced player off a critical special-teams unit altogether, but the Avalanche appear willing to keep experimenting with Hughes instead. That approach has a recent precedent in this building: Ross Colton had a stretch last season where he was so dangerous from the bumper that the Avalanche started wondering if he could become a sneaky top-six piece, before injury cut that momentum short.
For now, the takeaway is simple. If Colorado wants to avoid these offensive lulls going forward, it has to keep mixing and matching.
A predictable power play is exactly what a penalty kill wants to see. And giving Hughes a chance to grow into different roles could help the Avalanche keep him involved even when the forward group is fully healthy.
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For the Avalanche, the appeal is obvious enough to be part of the buzz. They do have goaltending options, but a name like Hellebuyck can change the temperature of a situation quickly if Winnipeg opens the door. Buffalo has also been floated as a possible fit, and for now this remains speculation rather than a clear-cut market, but Colorado would be wise to stay attentive if the Jets posture shifts once Hellebuyck is back in the picture. [Read more 🡒]
Former Avalanche Forward Is Already Stirring Questions About Colorados Decision
Jack Drury is already making an early impression in Nashville, and that is bound to get a little extra attention back in Colorado. In the Predators 5-2 win over the St. Louis Blues, Drury scored his first goal with his new team after being moved by the Avalanche in the offseason, then signing a five-year deal to stay put in Nashville.
For Colorado, it is a familiar kind of offseason storyline: a player the organization once added in a trade is now settling in elsewhere and starting to show why another club valued him enough to commit long term. Drury had already spent time with the Avalanche after coming over from the Carolina Hurricanes, so this is less about a strangers breakthrough than a former depth piece reminding his old team what it gave up. [Read more 🡒]