Colorado Avalanche forward Ryan O’Reilly had been holding out waiting to get a contract offer he wanted from the Avs or to be traded. Nothing materialized for months until last week the Calgary Flames signed O’Reilly to an offer sheet, and the Avs were forced to match it or let him go for draft picks. The Avalanche obviously chose to match it and O’Reilly suited up on Sunday for his first game back against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
On a 5-on-3 penalty kill early on in the third period, O’Reilly went to break up a pass across the crease and accidentally deflected it right into the net. In O’Reilly’s defense, had he not had his stick in the passing lane trying to deflect the pass, Nick Foligno would have buried it past Semyon Varlamov into the empty net. The Avs went on to lose the game 2-1 in overtime, so needless to say, O’Reilly’s return wasn’t exactly a good one.
