Achi news desk-
The Edmonton Oilers punched their way into the postseason with authority on Friday night.
Connor McDavid and Evander Kane each scored a pair of goals as the Oilers took the rematch with a 6-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche.
Edmonton was 10 points out of a playoff spot at the end of November.
“Things didn’t look great, but we had the belief that we could turn it around and we did,” Kane said. “It’s a nice feeling.”
Corey Perry and Mattias Ekholm also scored for the Oilers (46-24-5), who ended a two-game skid and improved to 9-0-1 in their last 10 home games.
The Oilers were looking for a strong showing after a poor performance in their last outing, a lopsided 5-0 loss at Dallas on Wednesday.
“There is a great need. It’s not the team or the game that we are, or that we want to show, on a daily basis,” said Oilers assistant captain Leon Draisaitl, who had two assists.
“The most important thing is how you respond, and that’s something over the last few years – including the playoffs – that this team does very, very well. Responding to bad efforts or bad games.”
Jonathan Drouin and Ross Colton answered for the Avalanche (48-23-6), who have lost four of their last six.
“We weren’t good enough,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “It happens every once in a while, it happened tonight. They were twice as good as us, with twice as many shots, more than twice as many goals.”
The Oilers beat Colorado 46-23.
Edmonton got off to a hot start with a goal coming just 1:52 into the opening period when Perry headed Nurse Darnell’s shot past Avalanche goaltender Alexander Georgiev for his 11th of the season.
The Avs tied it with eight minutes left in the first period as Nathan MacKinnon found Drouin in the slot and Oilers starter Stuart Skinner beat the glove side for his 18th goal of the campaign.
Colorado took the lead four minutes later as Colton squeezed past Edmonton defender Ekholm on the boards and cut into the lead before scoring his 16th of the season at the side of the stick past Skinner. Cale Makar’s assist gave him 83 points and moved him past Steve Duchesne for the second most by a defenseman in that category in franchise history.
The Oilers made it 2-2 with 2:42 to play in the first as McDavid’s shot bounced behind the net and he banked it off the skate of defenseman Devon Toews and into into the net for his 30th goal. This is the eighth season in a row that he has reached the milestone.
Draisaitl picked up an assist to reach the 100 point mark for the fifth time in his career.
The Avalanche had some concern early in the second period as Ekholm hit Mikko Rantanen hard along the boards. The Colorado forward, who has 102 points this season, left the game looking shaky and did not return.
“All I saw was one quick replay,” Bednar said. “He’s obviously holding it high, he’s holding his head. My first look at the replay didn’t look like it was deliberate, he just caught it wrong.”
Ekholm said he felt he stopped right before the shot.
“I could have gone right through it, but I thought I had given up,” he said. “Still, it’s hard for him when he doesn’t see me coming. Hopefully he’ll be OK, but I think he was playing hockey.”
Edmonton moved back into the lead at 8:55 when Ekholm put a puck on net and the rebound hit a defender and went into Colorado’s net for his 10th of the season. The play survived video review for goalie interference.
The Oilers scored with two seconds to play in the frame as Ryan McLeod’s shot bounced off Georgiev’s glove and hit Kane and went in. The goal, his 22nd of the season, ended a 21-game scoreless drought for Kane.
Edmonton took the lead four minutes into the third period as Evan Bouchard made a deft pass back to McDavid and headed it in for his second of the contest.
Kane grabbed his second goal of the game with eight minutes remaining, banking it away from the traffic in front of him.
NOTES
This was the second of three meetings between the two talented teams, with the last one taking place in Denver to close out regular-season play on April 18. Colorado scored in the final second of overtime to win 3-2 on March 16. .. The Avalanche got a pair of players back as Valeri Nichushkin (lower body) returned after missing four games and Yakov Trenin (undisclosed) rejoined the lineup after missing two games. Forward Chris Wagner was assigned to Colorado of the American Hockey League. … Draisaitl hit the 500-assist mark for his career.
UP NEXT
Avalanche: Begin a three-game homestand against the Dallas Stars on Sunday.
Oilers: Will travel to Calgary to face the rival Flames on Saturday.
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on April 5, 2024.
