Ryan O’Reilly has not had the season he envisioned. The Avalanche will not make the playoffs, and the 24-year-old center will not equal his team-high 28 goals from last season.
But a late-season hot stretch — seven goals and 15 points in his last 12 games — has O’Reilly feeling good about his game and optimistic about bringing that into next season.
“It’s something that took a while to find,” said O’Reilly, who had just six goals in his first 36 games. “It would have been nice to have that earlier. But it’s always nice having success.”
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In 80 games last season, O’Reilly had 36 assists and 64 points. In 80 games heading into Thursday’s contest against the visiting Winnipeg Jets, O’Reilly has amassed 38 assists and 55 points.
His assists are a career high, but he has scored 11 fewer goals than last season, after which he won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for the player to have exhibited the best sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with excellent play.
O’Reilly will make a team-high $6.2 million next season ($6 million salary cap hit) and could become an unrestricted free agent July 1, 2016.
Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic has said he would like to sign O’Reilly to an extension this summer.
The Avs did not practice Wednesday after beating Nashville 3-2 on Tuesday night at the Pepsi Center. O’Reilly, who is centering Gabe Landeskog and Alex Tanguay, produced his 17th goal to give Colorado a 2-1 lead against the Preds.
“Ryan had a really solid game,” Avs coach Patrick Roy said.
Mike Chambers: mchambers@denverpost.com or
WINNIPEG AT COLORADO
7 p.m. Thursday, ALT; 950 AM
Spotlight on Ondrej Pavelec: The Jets goalie has stopped 62-of-62 shots in back-to-back shutouts at Minnesota and St. Louis to begin a three-game trip. It’s a playoffs-or-bust push for Winnipeg, and Pavelec has been clutch, giving his team an excellent chance to clinch a wild-card spot with a victory at Colorado or a regulation loss by Los Angeles in Calgary. The Jets host the Flames on Saturday in the regular-season finale.
NOTEBOOK
Jets: Defenseman Dustin Byfuglien will complete his four-game NHL suspension against the Avs. Byfuglien’s punishment is from his vicious cross check to the New York Rangers’ J.T. Miller on March 31. … Chris Thorburn scored the goal in Tuesday’s 1-0 victory at St. Louis. It was his seventh goal of the season and 43rd in his 602-game career. … Winnipeg has scored first in its past four games and 49 times this season, tied for most in the NHL. … The Jets have won nine of their past 12 games, and seven victories have been against playoff teams.
Avalanche: Colorado has set a franchise record for man-games lost to injury with 478. The previous record was 474 set in 2010-11. The Avalanche is second in the NHL in man-games lost this season, behind Columbus (499). … Tyson Barrie has 52 points, the most by an Avalanche defenseman since Rob Blake (56) in 2001-02. Barrie is only the fourth Avs defenseman to reach 50 points in a season, joining Sandis Ozolinsh (four times), Blake (twice) and Ray Bourque. … Forward Jarome Iginla (team-high 27 goals) has 1,390 career games, tied with Doug Mohns for 37th all time.
Mike Chambers, The Denver Post
