Avs Rookies Top Sabres in Shootout Thriller

That’s probably one of the most exciting games I’ve seen in a long time! Seeing a game like that is exactly why love the shootout and go against all the hockey purists who would rather have seen the game end in a tie. The shootout is kind of like democracy – It’s a pretty bad system, but it’s better than anything else available.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this is the first time in NHL history that two 18-year-olds scored for the same team in the shootout. And for Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly to both do this when the game was on the line is a level of clutch I can’t even describe.

Speaking of Duchene, that crazy little kid is now tied with John Tavares for the rookie scoring lead at 29 points. Also, Duchene leads all NHL rookies in even strength scoring, with nine goals. Keep it up, Duchene, and we might have our first Calder Trophy winner since Chris Drury.

Since this game seems set to be a microcosm of the season, I’d like to extend a special congratulations to Brandon Yip. I used to watch this guy at Boston University (really to watch our 2007 1st rounder Kevin Shattenkirk, who also plays for BU), and never in a million years did I see the guy coming in here to score five goals in his first 10 games! Coming into this league as a young goal scorer is one of the hardest things to do, simply because the quality of the defensemen and goaltenders is on a whole other level than those in the NCAA or minor league, and this guy has, at least initially, proved that he has the chops for it.

An 11-round shootout isn’t quite the NHL record, but here’s some food for thought: Including regulation and the shootout, the Colorado Avalanche put the puck in the back of the net seven times. Of those seven, only ONE goal was NOT scored by a ROOKIE! (Duchene 3X, Yip, O’Reilly, Matt Hendricks; Milan Hejduk being the only veteran).