DENVER – Logan O’Connor ended a scoring slump after taking part in a pregame salute to his alma mater. He kicked off a strong second period that carried the Colorado Avalanche to an eighth straight victory, 3-1 Thursday night at Ball Arena.

O’Connor took the ceremonial puck drop in front of Denver head coach David Carle, who was an assistant coach while O’Connor was a Pioneer, and members of DU’s 2022 Division I championship team. The entire group looked to be in attendance, toting the trophy they took home after a 5-1 victory against Minnesota State on Saturday.

Just over three minutes into the second period, O’Connor dove after the puck, spun and fired in his first goal since Jan. 2 – a drought of 45 games.

“I know it’s been on his mind, as it would be on any player’s mind,” coach Jared Bednar said.

“He was playing hard, right from the drop of the puck. It’s almost like he got a little boost from all the DU guys coming in, seeing his old teammates and stuff like that.”

Andre Burakovsky put a shot into the net as it came crashing down on New Jersey goaltender Andrew Hammond (27 saves). After the briefest of glances at the replay, officials declared it a good goal and Colorado led 2-0.

Acquired at the trade deadline, Artturi Lehkonen’s first goal with the Avalanche was an empty netter. His second was close enough, as Hammond was at the other side of the crease facing Mikko Rantanen. Lehkonen sent Rantanen’s rebound in the back door.

“Little by little, settling in,” Lehkonen said. “Just trying to basically learn something every day, I guess.”

Pavel Francouz made 26 saves. His shutout bid ended with 8:21 left in the third period. New Jersey’s Jesper Bratt was left alone after a 2-on-1 in the other direction.

Hammond inched toward the bench for the extra attacker, then drifted back as Valeri Nichushkin came in. The Avalanche forward put the puck off both goalposts.

Nathan MacKinnon’s empty-net bid slid across the goal line just after time ran out.

Denver Pioneers hockey team, fresh off national title, celebrates with fans

“You play the game to win, and if you’re winning almost every game, it’s a lot of fun,” Francouz said. “Nothing beats the feeling after a whistle when you get the win and you can just enjoy it for a little bit with your friends.”

O’Connor also drew a penalty and came close to a second goal.

“What you don’t want to do is (help) him to get in his head,” Bednar said of O’Connor’s drought. “For us, the only message was just keep working, keep doing the right things.

“We rely on him – penalty kill, checking, hard forechecking guy. As that line (with Darren Helm and Andrew Cogliano) has sort of come together now recently, I’ve really liked their play. We had a feeling it would be a matter of time.”

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New Jersey defenseman Ryan Graves, who was traded last summer after parts of three seasons in Colorado, acknowledged the crowd after a video tribute. His night ended on a scary note after he “caught a skate to the chin,” as reported by the team and attributed to coach Lindy Ruff. The injury required stitches but Ruff called the location “fortunate.”