Colorado Avalanche Special Teams Look Good

The Colorado Avalanche are currently 2-0 through their first two games of the preseason, and special teams have been a large contributor to that successful start.

The Colorado Avalanche killed all six of the penalties they took against the Stars in Wednesday night’s game, and scored mere seconds after one of their powerplays.

On Tuesday night — against the Minnesota Wild — the Avs were 1/2 on the powerplay, and killed all three of the penalties they took.

Obviously, the Colorado Avalanche are having a ton of success with their speciality teams right now. Hopefully that success will continue into the season.

Special Teams Should be an Emphasis for Avs

It’s not like the Colorado Avalanche have been fatally unattractive in the realm of specialty teams the last few seasons, but they certainly haven’t been devastatingly pulchritudinous either.

They’ve sort of just hung out in between, Medusa on one side, odalisque on the other*, and they’re just right in the middle. However, the goal is to have something so devastatingly successful on both ends of the ice that teams have no choice but to fear either result.

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*I’ve been reading David Foster Wallace recently; pulchritudinous is not a disease, it just means great physical beauty. An odalisque is something so beautiful that it kills, and Medusa is so grotesque that she turns people to stone.

If the Avalanche continue with the sort of success that they’ve been having with their special teams, then victories become that much easier.

Also, emphasizing the special teams should most certainly be a priority because that’s always an added advantage in the playoffs when 5-on-5 play becomes strained.

Here’s what Jared Bednar had to say about the special teams play in Wednesday night’s game, according to the Avalanche website:

I think we had some players that were digging in and sacrificing a little bit…d [were] back there battling in front of the net and sealing out. That was probably the strength of our game — when we were down a man. And — to be honest — the special teams, the powerplay got us a couple opportunities there too.

In a limited sample size, the Colorado Avalanche are 1/4 on the powerplay and 9/9 on the penalty kill. Hopefully that sort of success will continue into the regular season.

Conclusion

The Avs have played two of their six preseason games, and will play their next game on Friday night against the L.A. Kings.

Here’s what Bednar had to say about that game, as well as the preseason so far in a nice video from the Avalanche website:

Quick hits from the video:

Bednar continues to approach the team from a standard that emphasizes evaluation and detail, which bodes well for all aspects of the game the Avs play.

That detail will certainly apply well to how the Avs approach the game at 5-on-5, but should also help them develop a more aggressive approach to their special teams as well.

That’s all for today folks, thanks for stopping by.