O'Reilly has hat trick, Predators hand Avalanche 1st regulation home loss

DENVER -- Ryan O'Reilly scored a hat trick, and the Nashville Predators ended the Colorado Avalanche’s 22-game home point streak with a 7-3 victory at Ball Arena on Friday.

“Obviously, a great win for us. Thought everyone competed, everyone played hard tonight,” O’Reilly said. “To give that team their first regulation loss here is something to be proud of.

“When we're all pulling the rope together, five guys on the ice are working, communicating, we can compete with anyone. And tonight, that was a great team we beat.”

O'Reilly also had an assist to finish with four points, Filip Forsberg had a goal and two assists, and Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist for the Predators (23-20-4), who have won three in a row and are 7-3-0 in their past 10 games. Roman Josi had three assists, Luke Evangelista had two assists, and Juuse Saros made 39 saves.

“I thought a lot of maturity and leadership got us through that game tonight,” Nashville associate coach Luke Richardson said. “It's taken months for us to get here, and it's a lot of work. You can see it from the last time we were in here till now, where a team like this they kind of flexed their muscles last time, and we kind of crumbled a little bit [in a 4-2 loss on Dec. 12].

“We talked about that before [this] game, and I think our leadership especially showed that we were strong, and not just physically as athletes, but I think mentally. And I think when they pushed back and made it 2-2, I think we could have easily crumbled, and I think that really showed the maturity in this team within the few months that we've been climbing in the standings, and that's going to be a big boost for our confidence going forward.”

Brock Nelson scored twice for the Avalanche (33-5-8), who lost at home in regulation for the first time this season (19-1-3). Mackenzie Blackwood made 23 saves.

“There were no positives. There really weren’t,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “I hated that game from start to finish, pretty much. And then we get slightly better in the second period, and OK at the start of the third, but we didn't do enough to win the hockey game. So there's nothing I liked.

“We got to do better than that. That was not even close to the standard of hockey that we want to play.”

O’Reilly scored to make it 1-0 Nashville at 30 seconds of the first period when he went forehand to backhand at the top of the crease to score bardown in the right corner of the net.

"I'm just cutting in the slot there, trying to be a threat,” O’Reilly said. “And Fil just his possession. Makes a great play to me going to the middle, and I just, from where it was, wanted to go backhand. And I was just able to get it up, which was lucky for me.”

Nelson tied it 1-1 at 1:24 off a rebound of Brent Burns' point shot at the top of the crease, reaching behind his back to backhand the loose puck through the five-hole on Saros.

O’Reilly was credited with a goal for a 2-1 lead at 7:32 when his centering pass to Evangelista was deflected five-hole by Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard. O’Reilly was below the goal line, off the right post, when he tried to feed Evangelista across the crease.

“It's awesome,” Forsberg said of O’Reilly, who played for Colorado from 2009-15. “He does everything. He's first out the door on the penalty kill. He's taking all the big face-offs and clearly producing as well. Leads the team in points, and then big game for him against his old team. It's fun to watch.”

Nelson scored his second goal to tie it 2-2 at 11:16, redirecting Josh Manson's point shot with the shaft of his stick. Nelson was sliding off the top right of the crease and put the puck far side past the blocker.

“Funny game today, where we come out of the first even and we weren't great,” Nelson said. “Second, play quite a bit better and have quite a few more Grade-A looks and chances, and we somehow find we're down two.

“We weren't at our best, especially early, but I don't know that there's cause for concern and panic.”

O’Reilly completed the hat trick to make it 3-2 at 13:01 of the second period. He deflected Matthew Wood’s initial shot from above the right circle at the top of the crease.

“He played here too, so it's probably a little more special for him,” Richardson said. “The guys were really happy for him. They know the work that he puts in every night, not just for himself but for the whole team. And that's what he is. He's the ultimate team competitor. So that really led the way for us tonight.”

Michael Bunting extended it to 4-2 at 18:04, going short side with a wrist shot from the left circle.

Martin Necas cut it to 4-3 at 1:09 of the third period with snap shot from the top of the slot.

Forsberg scored a power-play goal to make it 5-3 at 15:13 of the third. His wrist shot from the top of the left circle went through a screen short side past the glove.

“That was a huge one. Obviously, we know the push that they were going to have there, and big one for us and Fil to kind of step up and get that one and just kind of seal the deal,” O’Reilly said. “Third, we played hard, and they had some chances, but we needed a play. We needed a play to kind of seal it, and, obviously, Fil with a great shot. He played a great game.”

Stamkos scored into the empty net at 17:04 and Michael McCarron scored a short-handed goal into the empty net at 17:41 for the 7-3 final.

NOTES: Colorado's 22-game home point streak was tied for the fifth longest in NHL history. ... Nelson has 18 goals in 22 games since Nov. 29, second in the NHL behind Connor McDavid (20). ... O'Reilly became the fourth different Predators player to score a hat trick at age 34 or older, following Stamkos (Dec. 11, 2025 and March 8, 2025), Steve Sullivan (Dec. 14, 2009) and Jason Arnott (Feb. 28, 2009). … Nashville became the fifth team in the past 10 years to have multiple players age 34 or older (O’Reilly and Stamkos) score a hat trick in the same season (2021-22 Capitals (Alex Ovechkinand T.J. Oshie), 2021-22 Penguins (Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby), 2018-19 Sharks (Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton) and 2015-16 Canucks (Daniel Sedin and Radim Vrbata). … O'Reilly recorded his third four-point game with Nashville, which is tied for the third most in franchise history behind Josi (eight) and Forsberg (five). … Nelson (65 games) scored his 29th and 30th goals since joining the Avalanche last season and became the third-fastest player to reach the 30-goal mark in Avalanche team history behind Marek Svatos (51 games from 2003-04 to 2005-06) and Claude Lemieux (62 games in 1995-96). … Predators coach Andrew Brunette was under the weather but remained on the bench to coach the game.