Salvas Avs Game Analysis: My (Former?) Friend Drew O'Connor Was a Stud For Penguins Tonight

He put his happiness ahead of mine. So selfish.

Drew O’Connor (18) and his Class of 2022 teammates during a Dartmouth hockey media day photoshoot. They used my son as a prop to recreate a a draft day photo and celebrate my Avalanche fandom.

Hand up… this one's on me. 

Not really, but kinda. 

I texted Penguins player Drew O’Connor earlier today and wished him good luck. He responded with, “I know you don’t mean that.”

I didn’t. I wrote back that I hoped he scored in the shootout in a losing effort. I would be alright with that.

Little did I know that my playful banter would ignite a fire under his ass that would cause him and his linemates to be the driving force in the Penguins’ 5-2 win Wednesday night against the Avalanche.

(A little backstory: OC played at Dartmouth for two years before signing with the Penguins after an outstanding sophomore year. I was the sports information director (SID) at Dartmouth for a decade and OC was the best pure goal scorer to come through Hanover, New Hampshire in that time. More to follow below.)

Without Cale Makar and Evan Rodrigues (in addition to all the usual sidelined suspects we’ve come to expect), something was just off in the Avs’ game tonight. It never seemed like they could match the intensity of the Penguins and that dynamic fourth line.