ST. PAUL, Minn. — If it seemed difficult for anyone on the Avalanche to stay focused on a hockey game beyond the midpoint of the second period Friday night, there was good reason.
While a game was unfolding on the ice of the Xcel Energy Center, everyone’s thoughts with the Avs were with teammate Ryan O’Reilly, who was carried off the ice on a stretcher after going headfirst into the boards during Colorado’s 4-1 victory.
O’Reilly, the Avs’ 19-year-old sophomore third-line center, was taken to St. Paul’s Regions Hospital after going into the boards after trying to jab a puck loose from Minnesota Wild veteran Matt Cullen on a Wild power play.
While there was no diagnosis yet of his injury, an Avalanche spokesman said O’Reilly was able to move his extremities and was alert.
Avs center Matt Duchene posted on his Twitter account Friday night that O’Reilly was accompanying the team on its flight home.
“I was really concerned for him, as the whole team was,” Duchene said after the game. “It’s too bad things like that have to happen sometimes in hockey, but it’s real fortunate for him and for us that it looks like he’s going to be OK.”
O’Reilly lost his balance while trying to play the puck and went into the boards by the Wild bench, with his head, neck and left shoulder taking the brunt of the impact. O’Reilly was able to move his extremities slightly before being immobilized and strapped into a stretcher. Avalanche general manager Greg Sherman accompanied O’Reilly to the hospital.
As tough as it was, the Avs needed to keep playing and hold on to an important divisional game. Thanks to goalie Craig Anderson and a couple of fortunate bounces, they did. Anderson, starting after sitting the previous two games, stopped 32-of-33 Wild shots. But his thoughts were with O’Reilly afterward.
“I’ve had numerous times where I’ve lost (teammates) on the ice to stretchers, and it’s not a good feeling,” Anderson said. “But he was moving, and it sounds like he was OK. You’ve got to find a way to pick him up. It was our job to win the game for him.”
The Avs built a 2-0 lead after the first period, getting goals from Kevin Porter and Milan Hejduk on Wild goalie Anton Khudobin, who was playing because of hip injuries to regulars Niklas Backstrom and Jose Theodore.
Tomas Fleischmann got a gift goal on Khudobin with 5:15 left in the second period, a shot from near the blue line that bounced between the pads of Khudobin, who was starting just his second career NHL game.
Anderson allowed only an Andrew Brunette goal at 4:14 of the third period and was the beneficiary of a couple of hit posts by Wild players.
“What I tried to do, right after that (injury) happened, I just tried to tell the guys that he was going to be fine and make sure that we stayed strong within the game,” coach Joe Sacco said. “Sometimes you tend to drift a little bit there when you see a teammate go down like that. Human nature kind of kicks in, but we actually did a good job of killing off that penalty and the one following that. It was an important win for us.”
Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com
Avs Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Craig Anderson.
Avs goalie stopped 32-of-33 shots for the win.
2. Kevin Porter.
Avs winger scored and was a plus-2 in less than 10 minutes of ice time.
3. Ryan Wilson.
Avs defender scored an empty- netter and had five hits.
What you might have missed
The game was a sellout, though snowy weather contributed to probably a couple thousand empty seats.
Up next
Vs. Vancouver, Tuesday, 7 p.m. at the Pepsi Center.
