Avalanche score twice in 3rd, defeat Oilers in OT

DENVER --Mikko Rantanen scored with 22 seconds remaining in overtime, and the Colorado Avalanche rallied for a 6-5 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Ball Arena on Sunday.

Following an offensive-zone face-off win by J.T. Compher, Rantanen received a pass from Devon Toews at the point and cut through the slot before scoring from the left face-off circle.
"First of all, really good job by 'Comph' to win the draw. It's really important in the OT," Rantanen said. "And I] did a little scissor [with] 'Toewser,' and I think Toewser ran a little pick on
[[Darnell] Nurse
there, so, gave me a little bit more room. He kind of hooked me, so
[Jack] Campbell
maybe thought I was shooting it, [and] then he was out of [the net] after. So, I was glad to help the team win."

Compher had a goal and three assists, Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, and Alexandar Georgiev made 35 saves for the Avalanche (31-19-5), who have won three in a row and are 4-0-1 in their past five games.
Defenseman Cale Makar, who played in a 4-1 win against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday after missing four games with a head injury sustained Feb. 7, did not play because of an upper-body injury.
"It was an ugly game, on our side of it anyway," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "We had some resilience, no question. It's just one of those nights where that wasn't anywhere near our best, and I didn't think it was not from lack of want. But I felt like we lacked energy there, which is understandable with what's been going on, and if you're mentally not engaged the way you have to be, it can be a tough night, and we survived it. We were fortunate to get two points out of it, but we did."
Warren Foegele had two goals, Leon Draisaitl scored in his fourth straight game, and Mattias Janmark had a goal and an assist for the Oilers (30-19-8), who are 0-1-3 in their past four games and blew a multigoal lead for the second consecutive game. Campbell made 36 saves.
"Normally I might dress it up and say, 'Hey, it's good to get a point,' but I got to say that that was utterly disappointing for us," Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft said. "We know we can defend a lot better than we did, and ultimately it cost us getting the second point. We'll take the point and move on, but to dress it up any other way other than disappointing would be not honest."

Forward Evander Kane did not play due to an upper-body injury and is listed as day to day. The Oilers played with 11 forwards and six defensemen.
"I think that's excuses, and we're not in the business of making excuses," Woodcroft said regarding playing with 17 skaters. "We're in the business of getting better, and that's what we're going to have to do because six goals against [is] not good enough."
MacKinnon scored 26 seconds into the third period with a wrist shot from the left circle to cut it to 4-3.
Janmark responded for the Oilers at 3:58 with a slap shot from the high slot after receiving a pass from Connor McDavid make it 5-3.
"When we got our third goal, I felt like we started to come [alive] a little bit again," Bednar said. "It's hard to crank yourself up to go work and leave it all on the ice when you're tired and fatigued and you don't feel like there's a chance you can win. So, obviously, the guys still believed, which I like. We have a belief in our group that we can win, especially when we make the game close like tonight. So, you certainly see a spark when you get a good break."

Logan O'Connor cut it to 5-4 at 9:30 when he jammed in a loose puck at the left post, and Artturi Lehkonen tied it 5-5 at 15:48 with a redirection of a point shot by Compher.
"Good third period. It's easy to nitpick every single night," MacKinnon said. "We play so many games that we're] just going to have off periods sometimes. So, lately, it's been really good in the thirds."
Foegele gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead at 15:08 of the first period, scoring on a one-timer off a cross-crease backhand pass by Janmark.
Foegele then extended it to 2-0 at 1:14 of the second period when he drove through the slot and scored off a centering pass by Nurse from below the goal line.
Draisaitl pushed it to 3-0 at 7:37 with a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle.
"It's frustrating, right? We score enough goals, and the mentality has to be to defend. We're definitely capable of it," Foegele said. "It's just having the right mindset. We don't need to score more goals. We're up three. So we got to take shorter shifts and stay above guys, and for some reason, we're just not doing that."
Compher cut it to 3-1 at 8:34 after MacKinnon's shot from the left circle deflected off him in front, and Valeri Nichushkin made it 3-2 at 12:48 when his intended pass for
[Matt Nieto
deflected in off the skate of Cody Ceci.
Tyson Barrie scored from the point to make it 4-2 at 17:42.
NOTES:MacKinnon extended his multipoint streak to five games (five goals, seven assists). … Rantanen has 36 goals this season in 55 games, tying his career high he set in 75 games last season. … Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had an assist and has 69 points (27 goals, 42 assists) in 56 games this season, tying his career high set in 82 games in 2018-19. … Edmonton forward Zach Hyman had an assist to extend his point streak to five games (one goal, six assists). … Draisaitl extended his point streak to five games (four goals, two assists). … Oilers forward Devin Shore had one assist, one shot on goal and one hit in 7:30 of ice time after being recalled from Bakersfield of the American Hockey League on Saturday. ... Edmonton forward Klim Kostin missed his second consecutive game due to an illness. ... Colorado defenseman Josh Manson had one assist, two shots on goal, two hits and four blocked shots in 21:32 after he was held out of the lineup on Saturday for precautionary reasons. Manson returned Wednesday after missing 31 games with a lower-body injury.