Ryan O'Reilly burns former team for three goals and ends their 5-game win streak

St. Louis Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly came through in a major way for his team this afternoon against the team that drafted him 11 years ago. 

The 2019 Conn Smythe Trophy winner tallied three goals against the Colorado Avalanche (31-10-4, 66 points) this afternoon, helping the Blues to a much-needed 5-3 victory. The win was the first in five attempts for St. Louis over the Avalanche since their opening night victory on January 13, and improved them to 20-19-6 on the year. 

For O'Reilly, it was his second hat trick of the season and the third of his career. 

“It gives us belief and shows us that we can compete with these guys and beat these guys,” O'Reilly said. “It’s hard work and it’s the little details that do it.”

“He was excellent, obviously,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “Three goals, but he brings the same work ethic every night. He happened to score three goals tonight.”

The Avalanche jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period courtesy of goals from Cale Makar and captain Gabriel Landeskog. O'Reilly would counter with two goals of his own, with the first tally being the 600th point of his NHL career. 

He'd later hit the open net with 1:35 remaining to complete the hat-trick. A small number of hats did hit the ice after the goal from the 4,100 in attendance at Enterprise Center. 

“The crowd today was awesome,” O’Reilly said. “They were with us the whole time, even though we haven’t been playing great at home. It felt like there were a lot more people in the building.”

Mike Hoffman and Ivan Barbashev also scored for the Blues, who got 28 saves from Jordan Binnington. Devan Dubnyk made 25 saves in the loss for the Avalanche. 

“We know that it's got to be on the guys, it’s got to be on (our) core,” O’Reilly said. “We absolutely know if we want to make playoffs, it's got to be on us - and then everyone else follows. So it's good we stepped up, found a way. A lot of work left, a lot of things to clean up.”

The Blues and Avalanche will once again go at it at Enterprise Center on Monday in a re-scheduled game that was originally slated to be played on April 20, but was postponed due to complications from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.