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Amid the Avalanche’s offseason moves, it’s probably fair to say that the signing of center Joe Colborne would have flown mostly under the radar (or under the crossbar) if he hadn’t played for two seasons at the University of Denver.
By early in the second period Saturday night, though, Colborne already had his first NHL hat trick in his first game for Colorado, and his three-goal night proved crucial as the Avalanche went on to take a 6-5 season-opening win over the Dallas Stars in front of a sellout crowd of 18,007 at the Pepsi Center.
“You can’t script it any better than that,” Colborne said.
New Avalanche coach Jared Bednar, whose considerable dues-paying came as a player, assistant coach and head coach in both the ECHL and American Hockey League, also came away victorious in his first NHL regular-season game in any role. It came in a roller-coaster ride, with Dallas jumping out to an early 2-0 lead before the Avalanche came back with five unanswered goals — and then managed to hang on after the Stars rallied.
“I’ll tell you, that was a fun game, an exciting game,” said Bednar. “I enjoyed being on the bench.”
Yet he also conceded, “I think we have to get better defensively.”
Colborne, 26, had 19 goals for Calgary last season, so the Flames’ decision to not make him a qualifying offer was a but surprising. With that qualifying offer, he would have been a restricted free agent, but he instead became unrestricted. The Avalanche stepped in and signed him to a two-year, $5-million deal.
At even strength against the Stars, he centered a line between the unrelated Bourques — Rene and Gabriel, who both made the roster on professional tryouts after they also weren’t offered new deals at Columbus and Nashville, respectively — and Colborne’s first two goals came on power plays, with him stationed in front of the net and taking punishment as he scored.
Colborne’s third goal, at 7:05 of the second, was on a tip, put Colorado up 5-2 and chased Dallas goalie Antti Niemi, who had faced 20 shots.
“The three goals are probably the way I’m going to score most of them and I’m just fine with that,” Colborne said. “That’s my job and something I take pride in, going into those tough areas and making them try and drag me down, draw some penalties and hopefully bury some.
“They weren’t the most skilled goals I’ve ever had. The tip (for the third) wasn’t too bad, but the first two definitely were just grinding it out and getting your nose dirty. This is something I’ll remember for a long time.”
Bednar said of Colborne: “I liked him around the net, he was hungry around the net. He was getting sticks on pucks and he was fighting to get to the front of the net. That’s part of his M.O., that’s part of what made him successful in years past. We need that from him.”
Colborne’s opening-night hat trick was the second in Avalanche history, and the first came from another former DU Pioneer, Paul Stastny, in a 4-3 win over the Stars on Oct. 3, 2007.
The Stars’ comeback started producing visions of a replay of the Avalanche’s opener a year ago, when Colorado blew a 4-1 third-period lead and fell 5-4 to the Minnesota Wild, arguably setting the tone for what ultimately was a disappointing season. Dallas was within 5-4 after the second period, following goals from Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin (his second of the game), and Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov had allowed the four goals on only 18 shots.
Bednar answered simply and emphatically (“No”) when asked if he had ever considered pulling Varlamov.
Tyson Barrie scored an unassisted goal to give the Avs a 6-4 lead with 6:03 remaining, but Brett Ritchie’s goal 56 seconds later got the Stars to within one again. But Colorado hung on, despite being short-handed after Blake Comeau drew a slashing penalty with 1:56 left.
Barrie and MacKinnon each finished with a goal and an assist for the Avs and Varlamov ended up with 23 saves.
“We didn’t support Varly like we should,” Colborne said. “He made some huge saves for us. It’s exciting to get a big win against a tough opponent like that.”
Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog said, “I think structurally, we played well. I think everything we got, we gave to them with either decision-making with the puck or just losing battles. That’s something we can always get better at, but I do think the effort was there overall and we played really hard. Getting down quick by two goals in the first, shows a lot of strength to be able to get back and stay with it and keep going.”
Landeskog admitted he had thoughts of the collapse against Minnesota a year ago.
“Whenever they came into my mind, I brushed them off really quick,” he said. “You live and you learn. I think we all learned from last year and there were a few third-period collapses that we don’t want to go back to, so we wanted to make sure we got this one. It got a little too exciting at the end, but we got the two points and that’s what we needed.”
The home opener was a one-night stand, and the Avalanche next heads out on a four-game road trip that begins Monday night at Pittsburgh.
“That one feels good, no doubt,” Landeskog said of the Saturday win. “But it doesn’t mean a thing if we don’t follow it up with a good road trip.”
Home Openers
Saturday’s game against Dallas marked the 14th time the Avalanche had opened a season at home. In the previous 13, Colorado had six wins, four regulation losses, one overtime loss and two ties.
Oct. 6, 1995: Avalanche 3, Red Wings 2
Oct. 1, 1997: Avalanche 2, Stars 2
Oct. 10, 1998: Senators 4, Avalanche 3
Oct. 9, 2002: Avalanche 1, Stars 1
Oct. 10, 2003: Avalanche 5, Blackhawks 0
Oct. 4, 2006: Stars 3, Avalanche 2, OT
Oct. 3, 2007: Avalanche 4, Stars 3
Oct. 9, 2008: Bruins 5, Avalanche 4
Oct. 1, 2009: Avalanche 5, Sharks 2
Oct. 7, 2010: Avalanche 4, Blackhawks 3
Oct. 8, 2011: Red Wings 3, Avalanche 0
Oct. 2, 2013: Avalanche 6, Ducks 1
Oct. 8, 2015: Wild 5, Avalanche 4
