Soderberg’s Two Goals on Hejduk Night
The Colorado Avalanche hosted the Minnesota Wild for the first time last season on January 7, 2018. Before the game, they held a very special ceremony to retire Milan Hejduk’s number.
Historically, when the Avalanche honor their greats before a Minny game, they do well in the contest. It happened a couple years ago when the Avs held a 20th-anniversary ceremony before a Wild game.
Anyway, on this special night, the Avalanche did especially well — they beat Minnesota 7-2. It was, in fact, the first time Colorado beat the Wild since November 19, 2016.
And Carl Soderberg wanted in on the fun. In fact, he so wanted in on the fun that he scored two goals, both on the power play. The first power play came almost midway into the period with the Avs up 2-1.
In this sequence, Alexander Kerfoot races up the left side. As he crosses into the corner, he turns and center a pass to Soderberg. Carl receives the pass and jams it home past Devan Dubnyk:
That goal put the Avalanche up 3-1. Since the Avs won 7-2, this tally is the game-winner.
Later on, in the third period, the Avs go on the power play again. In this sequence, the Colorado players are set up in the Wild zone. Once again, Kerfoot takes possession. He passes the puck to Erik Johnson, who quarterbacks it to Nail Yakupov.
Meanwhile, Soderberg has set himself as a screen in front of Dubnyk. Yakupov takes the shot. Dubnyk makes the save, but the rebound squirts away to Kerfoot, who passes (of course) to Yakupov, who shoots again (of course). Dubnyk makes another save, but Carl is there to poke it in:
The goal put Colorado up 5-2. Besides the fact of the goal itself, my favorite parts are Wild defenseman Ryan Suter trying to get spicy first with Soderberg then with Colin Wilson as well as forward Ryan Zucker’s butt-hurt reaction.