Game-winner a 'lucky break' for O'Reilly

--C Ryan O'Reilly delivered the winning goal with 1.2 seconds left in overtime after he poked the puck away from Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk at center ice. He streaked into the Hurricanes end and ripped the puck from above the left circle past goalie Cam Ward's outstretched right pad. "It was a lucky break for me," O'Reilly said. "I saw that there were 10 seconds on the clock and the guy (Faulk) came at me. I just tried to get a good stick on it and lucky for me I poked it ahead. I saw we had four seconds on the clock and I'm not the quickest skater so I knew it had to be a slap shot at the net. (Ward) came out to challenge and I just got him with a low blocker shot."

--O'Reilly was angry with himself after missing on several scoring chances in the third period with the game tied 3-3. After taking a pass from left wing Gabriel Landeskog while all alone in front, O'Reilly cranked his shot off the right post with 9:16 to play. Three minutes later, while the Avalanche was killing off a hooking penalty to David Jones, Ward stopped O'Reilly on a clean breakaway and on another shot from the slot seconds later. "I'm going to have to work on my stickhandling," O'Reilly said. "Landy gave me that backdoor pass and I pulled across and I hit the post. I definitely have to get my hands going a bit more."

--The Avalanche erased 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 deficits. Center Paul Stastny tied the game for the final time with 59.1 seconds to play in the second period. Jones passed to Stastny in front and he swept the puck past Ward. The Jones-Stastny-Milan Hejduk line combined for two goals and three assists, and it has four goals and six assists in the past two games. "We're all working hard and we have confidence moving the puck," Stastny said. "We give up chances at times, but we also create chances."

--The Avalanche has beaten the Hurricanes eight consecutive times at home and gone 8-0-2 against them in the past 10 home meetings. The Carolina franchise last won in Denver on Feb. 9, 1996 when it was known as the Hartford Whalers. The Whalers won 3-2 in overtime at since-razed McNichols Sports Arena.

--Colorado did not have a power play for the second game in a row. The Avalanche killed all three of the Hurricanes' power plays after doing the same Tuesday in a 5-2 win against Chicago. The Avalanche is the first team to win two consecutive games without a power play since Phoenix did it Nov. 10-12, 2010.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"He had like nine chances to score, so it is good for him and good for the whole team." -- Avalanche center Paul Stastny, on teammate Ryan O'Reilly, whose goal with 1.2 seconds left in overtime produced a 4-3 win over Carolina on Friday.

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