The Colorado Avalanche didn’t need a full-scale overhaul to make their power play look dangerous again. They may have needed something simpler: a different way of using the weapons already in place.
That became the story in Colorado’s 8-4 win over the Los Angeles Kings, when the Avalanche went 4-for-5 on the power play to open the 2026-27 season. After a year in which the man advantage sat at 17.1% and ranked No. 27 in the NHL, that kind of start stood out immediately.
But the bigger takeaway wasn’t just the conversion rate. It was the way Colorado got there.
For years, the formula seemed obvious: load up Nathan MacKinnon and the top names, keep them on the ice, and ride the first group as long as possible. That made sense on paper.
The talent was obvious. The problem was that it left too much firepower sitting on the bench.
According to Colorado Hockey Now’s Aarif Deen, the Avalanche scored only two power-play goals without MacKinnon on the ice during the 2025-26 season. On Wednesday night, the second unit matched and passed that total by scoring three.
That’s not a typo. That’s the kind of result that gets noticed.
Bednar said the Avalanche had already been discussing a different approach.
"We talked about it a lot," Bednar said. "Joe [Sakic] and I talked about it. The coaching staff talked about it."
And the names on that second group make the whole “second unit” label feel a little misleading. Brock Nelson, Nazem Kadri, Artturi Lehkonen, Jaden Schwartz and Devon Toews would qualify as a top power-play group on plenty of teams around the league.
Colorado finally used that depth, and it paid off in a hurry.
MacKinnon admitted after the game that the other unit had the better night.
"They really carried it," MacKinnon said of the second unit, adding that his group still needed to get more on the same page.
None of this means the Avalanche have suddenly solved the power play after one game. They won’t score on 80% of their chances, and Wednesday’s performance still came with a major blemish: Colorado gave up two shorthanded goals.
That part can’t happen.
Still, there was enough here to matter. The Avalanche looked more balanced, more flexible and a lot less predictable. And if this holds up, it could turn an already dangerous team into one that’s even harder to handle.
That’s especially notable for a club that won the Presidents’ Trophy and set a franchise record with 121 points last season while being so underwhelming on the power play.
They don’t need perfection. They don’t even need to be elite. They just can’t keep carrying this much talent and producing like a bottom-six power play.
Maybe Bednar and Sakic are onto something. Not a new roster. Just a new way to use it.
One game is only one game. But it was enough to make the league pay attention.
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