If Gabe Landeskog is the Avalanche’s engine, Logan O’Connor is the jumper cable. Plug him in, watch the sparks fly.
“It’s just making your presence known,” O’Connor, the Avs’ scrap merchant par excellence, told me after Colorado stomped Dallas 4-0 in Game 4 of their Stanley Cup Playoffs tussle Saturday night. “That when you receive a hit, you’re going to take it or give one as much as you received it. I think that’s all the message is for that.”
The Avs left a few notes for Dallas to chew on as a 2-2 series swings back to Game 5 on Monday at American Airlines Center. While Landeskog was tugging on heart strings at Ball Arena, O’Connor was delivering messages with his shoulder, flying around like Russell Westbrook on skates. Pancaking Dallas defender Thomas Harley one minute. Getting chippy with the Lian Bichsel, the Stars’ 6-foot-7 space-eater, the next.
“I think it’s just making yourself known that you’re not going to back down,” said O’Connor, whose five points for the Avs this series are tied for tops on the squad with Nathan MacKinnon. “That’s the biggest thing — it’s just sticking up for yourself. (It’s) a long series, and all those little bumps and hits matter. And I think you don’t want to shy away from anything.”
So he didn’t. At one point, late in the first period, O’Connor even had his mitts around Bichsel’s sweater. The two looked ready to throw down for posterity.
So, yeah, about that. Did we mention that Bichsel’s got seven inches and 50 pounds on our pal LOC?
“I think maybe guys second-guess when they have the puck a little bit because they feel footsteps or whatnot,” O’Connor reasoned.
“Or the bodies just wear down the more hits you take — it’s just harder to make those plays and be as explosive as you want to be. I think it’s just all about wearing guys down when you can.”
It’s about setting a tone. With his Avs trailing 2-1 in a series they could easily be leading 3-0, LOC single-handedly turned Colorado’s engine over about 12 ½ minutes into the race.
As Harley pranced with the puck at the Avs’ blue line on a Dallas power play, O’Connor saw a window. The 6-foot winger closed hard, knocking a surprised Harley to the ice. The former DU star found himself alone with the biscuit and a full head of steam as he rocketed up the left boards.
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Glorious chaos ensued. O’Connor beat everybody down the ice, curled at the left faceoff circle, then fired the puck past Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger’s stick side for a 1-0 Avs lead.
“I figured I’d give it a chance to poke it by,” the Colorado forward recalled, “and then sort of just try and get off to the races from there.”
Out came the cables. Red to dead. Red to donor. Black to donor. Black to metal.
Remember what LOC said about “messages”? Per Dom Luszczyszyn’s GameScore metric, Harley had been cruising along as the Stars’ best player through the opening three tilts in the series.
But once O’Connor put Harley on his keister, Game 3 was never the same. Dallas was never the same. Once the Stars went on the back foot, the Avs went for the throat.
“I felt like he was sort of on his backhand at the boards,” O’Connor continued, “and felt as though I had a pretty good bead on it.”
LOC’s had a finger on the pulse of this entire series — and it’s been hovering near the Stars’ collective jugular vein.
Landeskog’s probably got an early leg up on Conn Smythe talk on sheer narrative alone. But LOC, through Week 1 of the postseason, has been the Avs’ secret MVP.
From his tumbling backhanded goal in Game 2 to picking Harley’s pocket in Game 4, O’Connor has turned every one of his shifts into can’t-miss theater.
According to NaturalStatTrick.com’s tracking data, the trio of LOC, Parker Kelly and center Jack Drury head into Game 5 ranked second among Colorado lines this postseason in expected goals per game (1.56), expected goals percentage (61.23%) and high-danger chances percentage (66.7%).
“Well, that (fourth) line has been exceptional,” Avs coach Jared Bednar noted after Game 4. “I said it all year, (it’s our) most consistent line, night-in, night-out, with the detail and the commitment that they play with and how competitive they are as a group of three.”
The Avalanche has the better roster, man for man. They’ve got a gear, when they find it, that Dallas can’t touch.
Mind you, we’ve said that when Colorado’s drawn Pete DeBoer-coached teams before, haven’t we? Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t … yada, yada, yada, you know the drill.
But is there anybody in burgundy who works harder than Logan O’Connor?
“I think for (Logan), it starts with his work ethic,” Landeskog said. “It’s hard to match. That’s where it starts. He’s in great shape. He works hard. He’s a good skater. Continues to work on his game. And it just seems like he’s taking great leadership of that fourth line, especially now lately. …
“I thought every time they got on the ice, they were in the offensive zone and making things happen and created some momentum for us.”
And of all of the buttons GM Chris MacFarland’s pushed since last fall, O’Connor’s six-year contract extension might’ve been his smartest under-the-radar gambit, given hindsight.
It doesn’t just take talent to get Lord Stanley back into your loving arms. It takes depth. It takes grinders.
“I think it’s just everyone playing to their identity,” O’Connor told me. “I feel as though our line’s done a good job of just keeping things simple, being predictable, and we’ve been fortunate enough to get rewarded. But I thought (Saturday) was a great example where there were zero passengers from our whole group.”
If there’s a catch, it’s that the Avs’ dominance in Games 1 and 4 is harder to replicate in the postseason than the uglier, grittier Games 2 and 3. DeBoer knows this better than anybody — which is why he’s content to muck it up and steal four wins any way he can.
If the Avs stick a lock on that back door? If they defend one-goal leads as if their contracts depend on it? This thing is over. Heck, if the Avs had three more Logan O’Connors, it would be over already.
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