Colorado Avalanche: Big Old Carl Soderberg Scores Shootout Winner

The Colorado Avalanche got to hail a new hero tonight when Carl Soderberg scored in the shootout to win the game for the team.

Just two years ago, Colorado Avalanche fans were surreptitiously looking at Carl Soderberg‘s five-year contract with it’s $4.75 annual cap hit and wondering how soon we could buy it out. In the 48-Point Lost Season, he earned just 14 points in 80 games.

Even last season, when he still had three years left, we were wondering if we’d buy out two years — this season and next — or burn the fourth season off. He was better in his third year here, but we still only got 37 points from him.

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Good thing we opted for the fourth year. He’s still working on getting his points totals to career best — he’s 10 away. However, he’s already crushed his career best in goals with 21. Big Ol’ Carl became a 20-goal scorer for the first time this season.

He also has three game-winning goals, including tonight’s shootout winner.

Before we admire Soderberg’s shootout winner, let’s take a moment to marvel that the Colorado Avalanche made it to the shootout. They’ve only done so one other time this season, when they lost in the shootout to the New York Rangers. In between then and now, the Avs have lost nine other  times in overtime and also lost once before that Rangers game.

In other words, let’s take a moment to celebrate that the Avs made it through overtime.

Anyway, back to Big Ol’ Carl and his 21 goals. Naturally, his shootout winner won’t add to that total, and he didn’t record any points on the night. And the shootout had to go six rounds for the Avs to even get to him — we saw the top-three Avs plus JT Compher and Derick Brassard go before it was Soderberg’s turn.

Mikko Rantanen was the only other shootout goal scorer for Colorado. Vancouver’s Brock Boeser scored in the second round.

Soderberg’s shot was a pretty meat-and-potatoes kind of play, as you’d expect from Carl. He didn’t try anything fancy, didn’t even kick his foot in an attempt to fool goalie Jacob Markstrom. He just skated up and shot:

You almost feel bad for Markstrom when you see his reaction, but I feel a lot worse for all of us when the Avalanche fail to win. Colorado won the game 3-2.

In typical Carl Soderberg fashion, he thought scoring his first-ever NHL shootout goal was “nice:”

Tyson Jost and Alexander Kerfoot couldn’t even handle watching the shot attempt, instead watching their captain for his reaction:

Talk about a nail-biter, eh?

All the top guys showed up in the game itself. Nathan MacKinnon opened the scoring in the first period with his 33rd goal of the year. Mikko Rantanen is getting tantalizingly close to surpassing his career best in goals from last year with his 26th, which was a power play tally in the second period. (Because, oh, yeah, the Avalanche’s power play seems to be working again.)

While captain Gabriel Landeskog didn’t record a goal in the game, he did earn and assist on Rantanen’s goal. He’s not matched his career-best in points.

The Colorado Avalanche are finding ways to win again, and we can be cautiously optimistic. If they keep squeezing the best out of players like Carl Soderberg, maybe the playoffs aren’t just a dream.