Ross Colton scored his first legitimate goal in burgundy and blue Wednesday night — and chemistry on his line was a key factor.
Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar changed up his lines after his team lost its first two games of the season.
One significant shift was moving Logan O'Connor from the fourth line with Andrew Cogliano and Fredrik Olofsson to the third line with Miles Wood and Ross Colton. He believed O'Connor could offer some guidance to the new players on the team — and he was right.
"It's tough to break up a line that is playing really well. But it's early in the year — I felt like OC (O'Connor) could help Colton and Wood, he did, they played great," Bednar said after practice Thursday. "A lot of it goes to the individual — I thought both guys were dialed in last night, played great and OC helped them."
O'Connor said he wanted to provide more leadership for the new guys and Bednar said that was part of his decision to split him and Cogliano up. He said they're both "dialed in" and wanted them to help other players get to that point.
"I love the fact that Cogs (Cogliano) and OC are sort of taking on that leadership role and really sort of, maybe even moving out of their comfort zone to help provide some information leadership conversations with the new guys," the Avs head coach said.
Bednar said part of that stemmed from the recent meetings he's had with his players and other spinoff discussions amongst each other. The move paid off with success from that line to open scoring in Wednesday's 4-1 win over the St. Louis Blues.
"We all just played very, very similar. We all try and play fast, try and kind of play in straight lines, really just keep it simple and he (O'Connor) does a great job of doing that," Colton said after the win which he scored his first goal on a goaltender. "The amount of pucks that he gets first touches, that he gets to, kind of makes it so much easier for me and Miles just cause I feel like we're getting so much more possessions cause he's winning those puck races. He's a great player, plays at a great speed so hopefully we can keep some chemistry and keep it going."
Wood earned the assist on Colton's goal and the two embraced in celebration immediately after the horn sounded. But there are three players on a line and in order for any of them to be successful, there has to be a connection.
"OC's a great player, great guy. He brings something to this team that's very special," Wood said. "He plays with speed, sticks up for teammates, plays hard on the forecheck and to have him on our line there last night — I thought we played great and he had a great game as well."
As Bednar said, it's early in the season so nothing is set in stone as far as lineups go. He sat Jonathan Drouin and Tomas Tatar in the matchup against the Blues to give Riley Tufte and Kurtis MacDermid some ice time and a chance for the two new additions to reset. But the Wood-Colton-O'Connor line will likely stay put as long as it continues its success.