Avalanche defeat Oilers in OT in Game 4, advance to Stanley Cup Final

EDMONTON -- Artturi Lehkonen scored at 1:19 of overtime, and the Colorado Avalanche advanced to the Stanley Cup Final with a 6-5 win against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final at Rogers Place on Monday.

Lehkonen scored on a rebound in front after tipping a point shot from Cale Makar. The play was reviewed for a possible high stick by Lehkonen, but the goal stood.
"It was a good bounce," Lehkonen said. "I got a tip on the first shot and then it bounced right on my tape."

Makar had a goal and four assists and Gabriel Landeskog had a goal and two assists for Colorado, which came back from down two goals in the third period. Pavel Francouz made 30 saves.
"I'm proud of the guys; we didn't play great, especially in the second period and we had some mistakes," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "They capitalized, and we talked about it after the second and wanted to make sure that we came out and played our game and we did that and we gave up some goals after fighting back into it and had to fight back into it again. It's just resilience, belief, guys just wanting to win and that's stepping up and making plays at key times and we saw that tonight."
Colorado advanced to the Cup Final for the first time since 2001 with the sweep and will play either the New York Rangers or Tampa Bay Lightning
in the final
. The Rangers lead the Eastern Conference Final 2-1. Game 4 is Tuesday in Tampa Bay.
Leon Draisaitl had four assists, Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists and Zach Hyman scored two goals for the Oilers. Mike Smith made 35 saves.
"I liked that there was no quit," McDavid said. "I don't think anyone quit out there, no one quit on each other. That's always a good sign, but we, obviously, let it get away."
RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Oilers series coverage]
The teams combined for six goals in a wild back-and-forth third period.
Zack Kassian tied it 5-5 at 16:38 after Colorado scored three straight goals.
"I'm proud of the group to get to this point, I don't think anyone necessarily expected us to be here," Draisaitl said. "With that being said, we expected to be here, and we want to be here, and we want to be even further. I'm proud of the group, but it's very disappointing and it [stinks] right now. But we have to make sure that we come back next season and understand how hard it is to win, what it takes to go on a deep run, and take that next step."
Devon Toews started the third-period fireworks when he scored 31 seconds into the period to make it 3-2. His shot from the point hit the knee of Oilers defenseman Cody Ceci and deflected into the net.
Hyman made it 4-2 at 3:55, one-timing a pass from Draisaitl.
Landeskog made it 4-3 at 8:58 with the first of three straight Colorado goals, scoring off a scramble in front.
Nathan MacKinnon tied it 4-4 at 13:30. He took a pass from Lehkonen of his skate at the Oilers blue line, went in and shot over the shoulder of Smith.
"It feels good, it's a step in the right direction and it feels good to move past another round," Landeskog said. "We know the job's not finished, but I think our group showed some real good resiliency in the third period. We talked about it after the second that we still hadn't played our best and it felt like we wanted to give it a good shot and start stringing some good shifts together and we got some big goals and got the job done, which is obviously a good feeling."

Mikko Rantanen scored on the power play at 14:47 to make it 5-4.
"We had the lead, and it seems like when we got the lead, they'd come at you in waves and we couldn't withstand that, couldn't get some saves, couldn't get the bounces," Smith said. "And ultimately, they got another break there at the end and win the series."
Makar scored the power play at 3:46 of the first period to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead.
Hyman tied it 1-1 at 7:39 of the second period, converting a pass from Draisaitl.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored on a breakaway to make it 2-1 at 16:57.
McDavid made it 3-1 on the power play at 18:54, scoring on a shot from the right face-off circle.
"We've been up and we've gotten tight and we figured we'd try to make them tight," MacKinnon said. "It puts a little doubt in their mind. Their season was on the line and we pushed and pushed and we finally broke through and it feels awesome to move on."
NOTES: Makar is the first defenseman in NHL history with five points in a series-clinching game. Only two skaters had more points in such a scenario: Wayne Gretzky (seven, 1985 Division Final with the Edmonton Oilers) and John Anderson (six, 1986 Division Semi-final with the Hartford Whalers). … Makar tied the Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques record for points in a playoff game (Peter Forsberg, 1998; Risto Siltanen, 1987). … Goalie Darcy Kuemper dressed as the backup for the Avalanche. He left Game 1 with an upper-body injury.