DENVER (AP) — Ryan O’Reilly scored three goals for his seventh career hat trick and added an assist as the Nashville Predators beat Colorado 7-3 on Friday night, handing the Avalanche their first home loss in regulation this season.

Filip Forsberg had a goal and two assists for Nashville. Juuse Saros made 39 saves.

It was O’Reilly's first hat trick since Jan. 4, 2025, versus Calgary, and second against his former team. O’Reilly spent his first six seasons with the Avalanche before being traded to Buffalo before the 2015-16 campaign.

Brock Nelson had two goals, Martin Necas also scored and Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 23 shots in his return to the lineup for Colorado. Blackwood had not played since Dec. 31 due to a lower-body injury.

He couldn’t prevent the Avalanche (33-5-8) from losing a second consecutive game at home, where they are 19-1-3.

O’Reilly scored his first goal 30 seconds into the game and got his second when he sent the puck from the goal line to the front of the net, where it deflected in off the stick of Colorado defenseman Sam Girard at 7:32.

Nelson answered those goals with two of his own, one when he cleaned up a rebound 54 seconds after O’Reilly’s first and later in the first period when he deflected Josh Manson’s shot.

Nelson has 14 goals in his last 16 games and 24 this season.

Saros made 15 saves in the second period, allowing his Nashville teammates to take the lead. O’Reilly made it 3-2 at 13:01 with his 16th of the season, and Michael Bunting gave the Predators a two-goal lead at 18:04.

Necas made it a one-goal game 1:09 into the third but Forsberg scored a power-play goal at 15:13. Steven Stamkos and Michael McCarron added empty-net goals.

Up next

Predators: At the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night.

Avalanche: Host the Washington Capitals on Monday afternoon.

Leonhard and Martindale among 8 candidates interviewed by Jets for defensive coordinator job

Denver Broncos assistant coach Jim Leonhard and longtime NFL assistant Wink Martindale were among eight candidates interviewed by the New York Jets for their vacant defensive coordinator position.

The Jets announced Friday they also completed interviews — all through video meetings — this week with Chris Harris, who served as New York's interim defensive coordinator after Steve Wilks was fired last month, Mathieu Araujo, Ephraim Banda, DeMarcus Covington, Daronte Jones and Jim O’Neil.

Jets coach Aaron Glenn will next shorten the list and meet with remaining candidates for in-person interviews.

New York's defense was one of the NFL's worst during a 3-14 season, Glenn's first as head coach. Wilks was fired after 14 games and Harris, the Jets' defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator, took over the play calling.

“Compatibility is just as important as coachability,” Glenn said last week when asked about what he's looking for in a defensive coordinator. “So, I want to make sure we see things the same way and I want to make sure that we can vibe as far as sitting down and talking about how we see football.”

Leonhard, a former safety who played for the Jets from 2009-11, has some familiarity with Glenn. In Leonhard's final season as a player in 2014 for Cleveland, Glenn served as the Browns' assistant defensive backs coach.

Leonhard began his coaching career as an assistant at Wisconsin, his alma mater, in 2016 before becoming the Badgers' defensive coordinator and later the interim head coach in 2022. After one year at Illinois, Leonhard joined Sean Payton's staff in Denver as the defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator in 2024 before adding assistant head coach to his duties this season.

Martindale was the defensive coordinator at Michigan the last two seasons after a two-year stint in the same role with the Giants. After several college stops to begin his coaching career, Martindale had NFL stints with the Raiders, Broncos and Ravens.

Araujo spent the last four seasons with the Dolphins, first as an assistant defensive backs coach for Mike McDaniel and then as the cornerbacks coach.

Banda coached the Browns’ safeties the last three seasons under Kevin Stefanski after several college stops, including Texas, Mississippi State, Miami and Utah State.

Covington joined the Packers this season as their defensive line coach and run game coordinator after spending eight seasons with the Patriots, including last season as the defensive coordinator.

Jones has spent the last five seasons with the Vikings as the defensive backs coach and also served as the pass game coordinator the last three. He has also had NFL coaching stints with the Dolphins and Bengals.

O’Neil has been with the Lions the past two years, including the 2024 season when Glenn was the defensive coordinator in Detroit. He's a defensive assistant who also coaches the Lions' safeties. He was a defensive quality control coach for the Jets in 2009 and their assistant defensive backs coach from 2010-12. O'Neil also has spent time with the Bills, Browns, 49ers and Raiders.

Bills active DT Oliver and WR Samuel from IR, promote WR Hardman and RB Gore from practice squad

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills activated defensive tackle Ed Oliver and receiver Curtis Samuel from injured reserve on Friday.

The Bills also elevated receiver Mecole Hardman Jr. and running Frank Gore Jr. from the practice squad.

Oliver, a starter, has been out since Week 3 with a torn left bicep. Samuel, limited to six games during the regular season, has been out with an elbow injury. Samuel and Hardman give the banged-up Bills a fourth and fifth healthy receiver.

The AFC’s top-seeded Denver Broncos host sixth-seeded Buffalo on Saturday in a divisional playoff game.

From undrafted to All-Pro: Devon Key's journey and big impact on top-seeded Broncos

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — One of the favorite parts of Sean Payton's job as Denver Broncos head coach is getting to call his players to inform them they earned Pro Bowl bids or All-Pro honors, and one such opportunity this season was especially gratifying.

Safety Devon Key, who went undrafted out of Western Kentucky in 2021 and bounced around several teams' practice squads before finding a home in Denver two years ago, was named first-team All-Pro as a special teams ace at age 28.

“Every week we give awards,” Payton said. “Special teams game balls, offensive and defensive game balls. His name comes up, and even in his play (in Week 18) when he came in on defense. He just steadily, quietly ..."

Goes about his business — and now he's considered the best in the business.

Key led the league with a franchise-record 26 special teams stops, besting the mark of 24 special teams tackles set by Keith Burns during several seasons in the early 2000s.

“When I hear something, ‘in the history of,’ depending on where you’re at, but when you’re at Denver and you say, ‘in the history of,’ well then that means something,” Payton said. "This place has played a lot of good football for a long time, and he’s tackled more people in the kicking game than anyone In The History Of.

"I think there’ll be a lot of former special teamers, former defensive players, that would be like, ‘Wow. That’s something.’ There’s a grit to that and a toughness to that. Devon’s one of those guys that … remember, it’s not like the opponent doesn’t recognize who they have to double team. So, that’s what’s impressive.”

Like any special teamer, Key would love to carve a bigger niche from scrimmage, but he embraces his role.

“For sure. I mean we’re the first play of the game, it’s either going to be kickoff or kickoff return,” said Key, one of six Broncos to earn All-Pro honors this season. "So, just from the first play we can go out there and force a fumble on the kickoff team or bust a big return on the kickoff return team and start the game the right way.

“That’s kind of the mindset that I have, just go ahead and get the guys hyped, get the crowd going.”

Whether it's springing Marvin Mims Jr. for a big return or making a jaw-rattling tackle to bury the opponent deep, two things he aims to do again Saturday when the Broncos (14-3) host the Buffalo Bills (13-6) to kick off the NFL's divisional playoff weekend.

“He’s playing at a Pro Bowl, All-Pro type of level,” special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi said. “He’s been a cornerstone for us this entire season, just been the model of consistency, particularly in coverage. .. People probably look at the stats, but his leadership and just his consistency are two things that just jump out to me. I’d be on that bandwagon for sure. I think that he’s playing as well as anybody right now in the core teams in the league, for sure.”

Key has proven to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the dynamic kickoff rules changes over the last two seasons in the NFL, which have revived the era of special teams aces having huge impacts on games.

“I feel like the kickoff rules changes have definitely helped me because we're not kicking touchbacks anymore,” Key said. “If you have a touchback it's coming out to the 35-yard line and I think one of the coaches this year said there's at least 1,500 more plays now just on the kickoff/kick return phase. So I think that's a big part of special teams as far as making more aces.

“Before, you saw guys just running through the end zone for touchbacks and OK, here comes the defense. Now, you kind of get excited because you're like, ‘What’s going to happen on this play?'”

Invariably, it's Key who's been in the middle of it.