Colorado Avalanche: Logan O’Connor’s 1st NHL Goal and Random Observations

The Colorado Avalanche got another win, and Logan O’Connor got his first NHL goal. Defensemen got feisty but… we have another injury.

The Colorado Avalanche beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-1. It didn’t look like it was going to go that way in the first period as the team wasn’t very good with the puck.

Despite blowing a five-minute power play, two minutes of it 5-on-3, the team took charge of the game. They limited Edmonton to seven shots while they themselves took 36.

You read that right. In just two period, the Avs took 36 shots and finished the whole game with 50.

Meanwhile, in the middle of that, Logan O’Connor scored his first NHL goal.

O’Connor is a Denver University alumni whom the Avalanche signed in the summer of 2018 to a two-year contract. Last season he played five games with Colorado but earned no points. This year he got called up in the wake of the ridiculous injuries the Avalanche are going through.

And he scored that goal. It was his third game with the Avs this season, eighth overall.

The goal came just over five minutes into the third period. The Colorado Avalanche had already shown who was in control as first Matt Nieto then Nathan MacKinnon scored in quick succession.

The goal started with Valeri Nuchushkin. He corralled the puck behind Edmonton goalie Mikko Koskinen. He tossed it into the slot, where O’Connor hit it with his backhander:

What a goal. O’Connor has been showing more confidence of late, and this should go a long way toward further encouraging him.

Here he is talking about the game:

As always with these humble hockey players, he’s more comfortable praising his teammates than he is pumping his own tires.

Random Observations

• The Colorado Avalanche are incapable of getting through a single game without an injury. Andre Burakovsky sat out the entire third period with what Jared Bednar is calling an upper-body injury. As far as I know, no reporters know what happened.
• Defenseman Ryan Graves has been up and down in his play lately. But with cornerstone defenseman Erik Johnson out, Graves really stepped up his game. Not only was he solid defensively, but he laid a huge, game-changing hit:

• Also, Nikita Zadorov seemed to have forgotten he has a broken jaw. Late in the first, he seemed ready to throw down with some Oilers players:

Well, after the first period, I didn’t think the Colorado Avalanche had a chance. But they found a way to win, and that’s something to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving! Watch out for my annual Thankful for the Avs post!