O’Connor scores again, Avalanche top Hurricanes for 5th straight win

DENVER -- Logan O'Connor scored a short-handed goal in his third straight game, and the Colorado Avalanche won their fifth in a row to remain undefeated, 6-4 against the Carolina Hurricanes at Ball Arena on Saturday.

O’Connor became the first player in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history to score each of his first three goals in a season while short-handed. He also had an assist.

“I thought I had a pretty good step on [the defense], and I felt like [Hurricanes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov] was maybe a little far out,” O’Connor said. “The other two I'd shot, and that one I felt as though a deke might be a better move there.”

Artturi Lehkonen had a goal and two assists, and Ryan Johansen and Nathan MacKinnon each had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche (5-0-0). Alexandar Georgiev made 23 saves.

“We've done a good job to start the year. I'm happy with the results, but I know that it's nowhere near as good as we can play,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “We're going to keep pushing to get there as quick and as fast as we can, to get to the top of our game and then be able to maintain it, and then really hone in on the habits.”

Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jaccob Slavin each had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes (3-3-0), who are 2-3-0 entering the final game of a six-game road trip. Kochetkov made 22 saves.

“It was a tough game because I felt like we were doing pretty good, doing some good things,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Obviously, special teams just ate us up. It's not like we were giving up a ton, but just every time they had that opportunity, man they put it in the back of the net, and that's what a great team does.”

Kotkaniemi gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 16:09 of the first period when he scored on a centering pass from between the circles.

“Throughout this year, we've got going a little bit and then we shoot ourselves in the foot,” Carolina forward Jordan Martinook said. “We'll clean it up; we'll do some video. We'll practice and try and be better next game.”

Johansen tied it 1-1 on the power play at 19:54 after redirecting a crossing pass from MacKinnon with his skate at the back side of the net.

“I was just sitting on the back side where, if he put it to the net or shot it or tried to hit me back side like he did, I was just in a spot to tap it in,” Johansen said. “Give Carolina credit -- great hockey team. They made some plays, and then I felt like we turned it up and took over the game. That's what you need to do.”

O’Connor put Colorado ahead 2-1 at 1:57 of the second period, scoring short-handed when he split the defense and backhanded the puck off Kochetkov and in.

“He's one of the hardest working guys we got, and he's competitive as can be,” Bednar said. “He wants to win, and he'll accept any role and whatever tasks you give him. He's just happy to try and help and do his best while he's doing it. Need to drag that out of our entire roster, that type of mentality.”

Burns tied it 2-2 at 9:17 while on the power play when he beat Georgiev over the shoulder with a wrist shot from the right circle.

Bunting gave the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead at 10:42 of the second period after gathering a loose rebound, turning, and shooting it over the leg of Georgiev.

"We're scoring enough goals, and we just can't stop anything from going in our net. Special teams is a part of it,” Brind’Amour said. “Right now our kill's just atrocious. Everything's going in. So we're going to have to readjust that a little bit, obviously.”

Fredrik Olofsson tied it 3-3 at 12:21 when he beat Kochetkov over the glove with a snap shot. It was his first goal with the Avalanche after being acquired in a trade with the Dallas Stars on June 15 for future considerations.

“First [goal] with the team is pretty special,” Olofsson said. “It's always nice to get to swing the game the right way, and then after that we kind of rallied, got some power-play goals too, and then it felt like we had it.”

Lehkonen put Colorado ahead 4-3 at 14:10 with a power-play goal.

MacKinnon extended it to 5-3 at 15:57 of the second when he scored on a centering pass from Lehkonen from between the circles.

Rantanen pushed it to 6-3 at 19:35 on the power play.

The Avalanche went 3-for-5 with the man-advantage.

Slavin scored on a slap shot from above the left circle at 12:26 of the third period for the 6-4 final.

NOTES: Georgiev tied the Avalanche/Nordiques record for consecutive winning starts to begin a season with five (Semyon Varlamov and Jean-Sebastien Giguere in 2013-14, Stephane Fiset in 1994-95, and Mario Gosselin in 1985-86). … Slavin tied Dave Babych for the most assists by a defenseman (196) in Hurricanes/Whalers history. … Carolina forward Teuvo Teravainen played his 600th NHL game. … Hurricanes forward Martin Necas (two goals, three assists) and Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin (one goal, three assists) each extended his point streak to four games. … Lehkonen extended his point streak to three games (two goals, four assists).