Logan O'Connor achieved his first career NHL hat trick while Nathan MacKinnon had 2 goals and 3 assists as the Colorado Avalanche cruised past the Philadelphia Flyers 7-4 early Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center.
O'Connor was the first to light the lamp for either team, scoring the opening goal just before the halfway point of the 1st period for his 9th of the season. Colorado doubled the lead at 2-0 with Mikko Rantanen (25) at the 18:36 mark and the Avs would hold this advantage heading to the 2nd period. Colorado started the 2nd period with a bang with MacKinnon's first of the game at just 43 seconds in, his 25th of the season to make it 3-0 Avs. Joel Farabee got the Flyers on the board not long after at 1:49 for his 16th of the season, but O'Connor got his 2nd of the game at 8:14 to put the Avs up by 3 once again. At 12:23, Travis Konecny (22) cut the Colorado lead in half, 4-2, but MacKinnon's 2nd of the game gave at 17:05 (26) the Avs yet another 3 goal cushion. The Avs held this now 5-2 advantage heading to the 3rd period.
Five and a half minutes into the 3rd, Philly actually got back within 1 goal, cutting the 5-2 deficit to 5-4 with goals from Tyson Foerster (7) and then Cam Atkinson (12) at the 8:11 mark. Unfortunately, the Avs weren't fazed, adding 2 final tallies by Rantanen at 12:26 on a Colorado PP and O'Connor summoning the hats at 19:39 with an empty netter effort.
Colorado improves to 30-14-3 and 2nd in the Central Division, with a 7-3-0 record in their last 10 games. They play next back home against Washington on January 24 at 7 pm. Philadelphia drops to 25-15-6, 2nd in the Metro Division, with a 6-3-1 last 10 record. Their next game is a faceoff at home against Ottawa tomorrow early afternoon at 1 pm.
Team Stats:
Shots: COL 25, PHI 40
Hits: COL 16, PHI 14
Faceoff Wins: COL 21, PHI 38
PIM: COL 3, PHI 2
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