Colorado Avalanche: All About Carl Soderberg’s 1st Career Hat Trick

Colorado Avalanche center Carl Soderberg earned his first NHL hat trick last night in the 6-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Stolid Colorado Avalanche forward Carl Soderberg recorded his first NHL hat trick last night. You read that right — big ol’ Carl got the hattie.

In Toronto. I didn’t even think the Avalanche were going to be able to win last in Toronto’s barn. And they actually pulled out the win.

And Carl “You Thought I’d Be a Buyout” Soderberg was a large part of the reason. After all the Avs won 6-3, and one of Soderberg’s three goals was actually the game-winner.

Carl started his hat trick feat late in the second period. The Leafs were actually on the powerplay because Nikita Zadorov in his return was a bad, bad boy. He was sitting in the penalty box with his second sin of the night, this time for boarding Zach Hyman.

The Avalanche clear their own zone. Jake Gardiner is chasing down the puck, and Soderberg is huffing and puffing behind him. Big ol’ Carl is not a speed skater, but he shows in this play he doesn’t give up either. He out-muscles Gardiner, tying up his stick while gaining possession of the puck himself.

Gardiner starts to trip him up, but Soderberg doesn’t give up on the play. As he’s falling down, he backhands the puck past Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen:

I just love that Soderberg never gives up. His goal put the Avalanche up 3-2.

Here’s the best tweet of the night about that goal:

Midway through the third period, Carl Soderberg strikes again. His second tally of the game is another example of a hard-working goal, though this time of a different sort.

Coach Jared Bednar has put Avs players into the salad spinner again, and this time he’s come up with Soderberg flanked by J.T. Compher and Colin Wilson. I actually don’t hate this as a third line, though Bednar used it as a second line. (I will not go on a Jost rant, I will not go on a Jost rant, I WANT TO GO ON A JOST RANT, I will not go on a Jost rant…)

Ahem, back to the man of the hour — Carl Soderberg. Compher’s gritty two-way play couple with Wilson’s finesse actually seem fine complements to Carl’s meant-and-potatoes game. And it worked last night.

Wilson works the puck down low and feeds it to Compher behind the net. JT whips around and passes the puck to Soderberg, who’s in the circle. Carl angles his stick and one-times the puck past Andersen:

That goal proved to be the game-winning goal.

For his third goal of the night, Carl Soderberg takes the phrase “cool as a cucumber” to a whole other level. If you’ll notice, Soderberg doesn’t even crack a smile after scoring the above goals? But surely things would be different when he scores his first career hat trick, right?

Nope. The empty-netter was just the nail in the coffin, but it was nonetheless Carl’s third of the night.

Doesn’t matter. As the Colorado Avalanche’s tweet notes, the announcers and team are far more excited about the goal than Soderberg:

Here’s a gif of the “celly” alone:

However, at the end of the night, Soderberg did give a big smile:

That was Soderberg’s 15th goal of the season, which is one goal shy of his career-best. But, hey, as Carl would say, no big deal.

It’s a big deal, though, that the Colorado Avalanche are back in the win column, and against a really good team like the Maple Leafs. But we’re not out of the woods yet. The Avs need to follow last night’s victory with another big game or three.

That would put them on more solid footing in the playoff bracket, which would allow us all to breathe a little more easily.