Colorado Avalanche: All About Samuel Girard’s 1st Goal

Colorado Avalanche rookie defenseman Sam Girard scored his first Avs goal on the power play with a slapshot from the point.

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard has finally scored his first goal as an Av. It was his 36th game with the Avs — he had already accrued 10 assists.

Sam Girard is a small, offensive defenseman who’s only 19 years old. No one was getting worried about the offensive side of his game when he was playing better defense than 26-year-old Tyson Barrie. I mean, check out this shift by young Sammy:

He stops a breakaway and a pass, blocks a shot, then clears the puck — all without the benefit of his stick.

Anyway, the goal came midway through the second period. Fellow defenseman Nikita Zadorov had already scored, so the Avs were up by one. They were also on a power play thanks to Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse cross checking Gabriel Landeskog.

Speaking of Landeskog, he was behind the net with the puck during the power play. He dishes it to Mikko Rantanen. Rantanen passes it to Girard, who unleashes a slap shot:

Sam Girard, so tiny, so unemotional.

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Girard — who’s the youngest rookie on the team by virtue of two months (vs. Tyson Jost) and smallest on the team by virtue of 13 pounds (vs Alexander Kerfoot) — scored his first NHL goal while still with the Nashville Predators (second NHL game).  It took him a little longer to score with the Avs, but he’s also been getting more sheltered minutes than with the Preds.

Sam Girard is especially known for his skating — he’s got a spin-o-rama that sets Peter McNab into swoon level. It’s a pity his first Avs goal didn’t come after a little fancy skating, but we’ll take it.

It’s exciting to see Girard get his first Avs goal.

Side topic, Altitude TV utilized Todd Romero for last night’s game. Apparently he normally covers the Denver Nuggets. Well, he got JT Compher and Blake Comeau mixed up. Now their last names are similar, but they’re not the same guy.

Later, Romero remarked that “MacKinnon looked good tonight.” Really? He looked good watching the Avs game from his couch here in Denver? Because how do you hope to cover an Avs game and not know the biggest news is that star Nathan MacKinnon is sidelined with an injury?

Side, side topic. Players don’t “owe” reporters interviews, especially goalies on game day. They all have their own way of getting focused. Patrick Roy, for one, was infamous for maintaining radio silence on game days — along with talking to his posts and stepping over the red line.

Well, earlier today TSN reporter Ryan Rishaug didn’t like that Oilers goalie Al Montoya didn’t give interviews on game days. And he called Montoya out publicly on Twitter. This was Montoya’s response:

That was a stone cold response that Rishaug deserved. Certain Avs reporters tried those kinds of shenanigans with Matt Duchene before the trade, and he did the big skedaddle.

Next: Who Will Step up for MacKinnon?

Anyway, congratulations to Sam Girard. May he score many more for the Colorado Avalanche.