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Rinkside's NHL 3 Stars: Colorado Avalanche lead the way in blowout win over St. Louis Blues

Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
NHL
2021-01-16, 05:43

Friday night began with Gritty, the Philadelphia Flyers’ mascot, dressed as a mouse and attempting to be a Broadway performer. The Flyers took off from there and the beloved orange fellow tossed a Gritty-sized hat onto the ice to celebrate Travis Konecny’s hat trick.

The night ended with Jakub Voracek going off on The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Mike Sielski.

First star

The Colorado Avalanche

The entire Colorado Avalanche bench earned first star recognition for absolutely demolishing the St. Louis Blues in an 8-0 win.

After a scoreless first period, the Avalanche scored five power play goals and three even strength goals en route to victory.

Philipp Grubauer stopped all 21 shots he faced in his 12th career shutout and he recorded an assist. 

Gabriel Landeskog scored twice and reached 200 goals for his career while Mikko Rantanen notched his 100th career goal.

Nathan MacKinnon had one goal and two assists, Cale Makar had three assists and six other Avs provided multi-point efforts. 

Second star

Travis Konecny, C, Philadelphia Flyer

Travis Konecny scored the first hat trick of his career and helped the Flyers sweep Pittsburgh in their season-opening, two-game series. 

The 23-year-old’s three goals were much needed. He led the team in goals last season and was held scoreless in 16 playoff games. 

Konecny scored the first two goals of the contest and added his third to give Philadelphia a 4-2 lead. He also added an assist for a four-point night.

Third star

Vitek Vanecek, G, Washington Capitals

After five years in minor league hockey, Vitek Vanecek made his NHL debut in Washington's 2-1 win over Buffalo.

Vanecek spent the last four years with the Hershey Bears in the AHL and was with the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays for most of the 2015-16 season.

The rookie stopped 30 of 31 shots and stood strong when Buffalo had three power plays in the first period. 

Dishonourable mention 

Collin Delia, G, Chicago Blackhawks

Collin Delia didn’t have a terrible showing against the Tampa Bay Lightning but the first goal scored by Ondrej Palat didn’t do him any favours.

Delia went to play the puck behind his net, there was some miscommunication, an off-balanced (but graceful fall) and the Lightning took full advantage of it. 


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