It has been 14 years since the Nashville Predators had a power play this dangerous.
In their 6-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche at Bridgestone Arena on Oct. 25, the Predators scored four power-play goals on seven chances — the most power-play goals in a game since 2012.
"We had some good looks that we buried," said Steven Stamkos, who scored one of his two goals on the power play. "That's what you're supposed to do when you get those chances."
The Predators (4-3-4, 12 points) led the Avalanche in every period, scoring two in the first, three in the second, and one in the third. Ryan O'Reilly led the team with four points (two goals, two assists), followed by three points each by Stamkos (two goals, one assist), Filip Forsberg (one goal, two assists) and Roman
Josi (three assists).
Stamkos said it was the team's best performance of the season.
"We've talked about searching for that type of effort," he said. "That's the way we want to play, so that's the standard."
Matching that standard on the power play will be difficult for Nashville moving forward. Scoring at least four power-play goals in one game has happened only five other times in franchise history:
- March 4, 2004 @ Pittsburgh — 6
- Feb. 18, 2004 vs San Jose — 5
- Oct. 24, 2026 vs Colorado — 4
- Jan. 7, 2012 vs Carolina — 4
- Nov. 10, 2005 vs Dallas — 4
- Dec. 20, 2001 vs Vancouver — 4
The win over Colorado ended a two-game skid for Nashville, which including a 3-2 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins the night before. Though the Predators have struggled to win consistently, when they've relied on the power play to score goals, they've had success: They are 4-0-3 in games with at least one power-play goal and 0-3-1 in games without one.
Nashville's power play now ranks third-best in the NHL (33.3%), with most of the team's top players contributing goals on the unit: O'Reilly (4), Stamkos (3), Jonathan Marchessault (2), Forsberg (1), Nils Hoglander (1) and Matthew Wood (1).
"Your best players win you the most games," coach Andrew Brunette said. "They won us that game tonight. For all of them, it was a master class of puck strength and connection when they were on the ice."
Next up, the Predators host the New York Islanders on Oct. 27 (7 p.m. CT, The Spot Nashville 28).
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com, follow him on X at@alexdaugherty1 or check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What historic night for power play did for Predators in game vs Avalanche
