It’s still a tiny sample size, but what a difference a year makes, so far, for the Colorado Avalanche penalty killers.
The entire Avalanche team got off to a slow start a season ago before a huge run to the finish line secured a Central Division title. Nowhere was that more evident than the penalty kill. The Avs allowed nine power-play goals in the first six games of last season, including two in each of the first three contests.
Colorado is two games into its 2023-24 campaign, and the PK has been a perfect 9-for-9 so far.
“They’re doing a good job,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “I mean, that’s a key penalty kill in overtime. We were pretty disciplined tonight, but we got called for a few and they were at key times. You have to be sharp. We’ve been rotating some of more experienced guys that have been with us and have earned that trust, and we’re spotting in some other guys. Everyone seems to be doing a good job, and we have lots of options.”
The Avalanche dominated the game Saturday at even strength and on the power play against the Sharks, but San Jose goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood nearly stole a victory with 50 saves. The Sharks had three power-play chances during regulation while protecting a 1-0 lead, and a second goal might have been the difference.
Then San Jose had its best chance to win in overtime when Nathan MacKinnon was sent to the box for kneeing. Colorado faced a 3-on-4 for a full two minutes. Not only did the Sharks not score, they managed only one shot on goal during the penalty.
Josh Manson, Cale Makar and Jack Johnson all blocked a shot during the PK. Andrew Cogliano and Val Nichushkin split the time as the lone forward while those three defensemen plus Devon Toews handled the two defense spots in the triangle.
“Our PK stood tall and it was fun to watch,” Makar said.
The Avs began this season with a couple of key figures from the penalty kill unit to replace, forward J.T. Compher and defenseman Erik Johnson. They also wanted to increase the expectations — if the standard for the power play is to be a top-five unit in the league, why not the same for the PK?
An interesting wrinkle is a few of the players who are in the rotation at forward were not regulars on the PK for their previous clubs. Miles Wood played a total of 1:52 on the penalty kill for the Devils last season. Ross Colton saw 12 seconds of PK time for the Lightning. Tomas Tatar logged seven seconds for New Jersey. Fredrik Olofsson did not play at all while a man down in 28 games for the Stars.
Olofsson, Colton and Wood are all among the top-six Avalanche forwards with more than two minutes per game on the PK, while Tatar has been a fill-in guy with 58 seconds per contest. Colton in particular earned praise from his coach for efforts after the opener in Los Angeles.
“He’s a puck hound,” Bednar said. “You get him on the ice and he’s a gamer. He’s highly competitive. He’s fired up. He plays the game with passion and physicality. He has some quickness to his game and he likes to get after the puck, which helps your penalty kill.”
While the Avs were perfect on the PK in both games to start the season, the two performances were different. Los Angeles had a lot more success finding shooting lanes in the opener than San Jose did Saturday night, at least at 5-on-4.
When the Sharks had a 5-on-4 advantage against the Avalanche, San Jose mustered only three shots on goal in 5:48. The Avs nearly matched them with two shorthanded shots on goal. Los Angeles had 11 shots at 5-on-4 in the opener, but Alexandar Georgiev was the team’s best penalty killer. The guys in front of him carried more of the workload against the Sharks.
“Each team kind of presents different challenges and different looks,” Jack Johnson said. “But yeah, so far so good. We’re just going to try and keep getting better as the year goes along.”
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