Colorado Avalanche: Dominic Toninato Scores First NHL Goal

Recent Colorado Avalanche call-up Dominic Toninato scores his first NHL goal in a thrilling victory over the Winnipeg Jets.

The Colorado Avalanche won a game! Woo-hoo! They beat the Central Division-leading Winnipeg Jets at home! Yes! Their penalty kill was perfect, and Semyon Varlamov was solid in net! That’s the stuff, baby!

As exciting as all that was, perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of the night was a certain prospect who came in as a rookie last season. A promising prospect, Toninato brought some grit and Midwest candor, but he failed to score in 36 games last season.

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Toninato then proceeded to spend the entire season this year with the Avalanche’s AHL-affiliate Colorado Eagles. He hasn’t exactly dominated there — 15 points (6 goals, 9 assists) in 37 games.

I admit it, I wrote Toninato off. I had been pretty high on him last season starting from when the Colorado Avalanche acquired him in the summer. He was a restricted free agent after having completed four years at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. I liked that he was a two-way forward with some size and grit.

But, he didn’t appear to be panning out. Then right here in Game 57 of the 82-game NHL season, Toninato got the call-up. During the broadcast, the Altitude team told a story that Dom was in the shower at his hotel in Loveland when he got the call. He had to race to his apartment in Denver before racing to the airport to fly to Winnipeg.

No official word has been given for why Toninato received the call-up. No new injuries have been announced. However, Dom went in for Sheldon Dries, and it’s thought he’s supposed to be giving the rookie a push.

Hey, it ain’t pretty, but when you’re in the NHL, there’s always 10 qualified guys who are gunning for your job.

In any case, this was Toninato’s first NHL game this season. And, on this Valanetines’ Day game, he gave himself the best Valentine. On his first NHL shot this season, in Game 37 of his NHL career, he scored his first NHL goal.

The goal came early in the first period. Dom was skating on the fourth line with fellow Eagles alum/teammate A.J. Greer and veteran Sven Andrighetto.

The score is tied at zero. The play is in Winnipeg’s end. Greer takes up office in front of the net and tries a couple times to poke the puck past goalie Connor Hellebuyck. Meanwhile, Toninato crashes the net.

As the puck squirts free, somehow Dom gets his stick on it:

As TV analyst Mark Rycroft stated during the broadcast, it doesn’t matter if it’s your seventh or 37th game, you always remember your first NHL goal.

Though you can’t see it in the video, captain Gabriel Landeskog did, indeed, christen him with the ceremonial splashing of the water in the visor. As Dom wipes away the moisture, he looks anything but perturbed.

I plan on writing about this in a future post (if they stick together), but that was a solid fourth line of Toninato, Greer, and Andrighetto. They all bring some grit and some finesse — not to mention all the guts. I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing them stay together for a while.