Oilers at Avalanche | Recap

DENVER -- Kasperi Kapanen scored his first goal with the Edmonton Oilers in a 4-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Saturday.

Kapanen was claimed off waivers from the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 19.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist, and Vasily Podkolzin and Brett Kulak each scored a goal for the Oilers (13-9-2), who have won three straight games, including 4-3 in overtime at Utah on Friday. Connor McDavid had an assist, and Stuart Skinner made 27 saves.

“Tonight, it looks like a good defensive game that we were able to hold them to one goal, but the amount of saves that 'Stu' made, if he doesn't make those saves, we're looking and talking about how poor we were defensively,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “For coming in here in this building, playing against this team, we feel very happy with that win.”

Nikolai Kovalenko scored for the Avalanche (13-12-0), who have lost three of their past four games. Alexandar Georgiev made 28 saves in his second start in as many days. Georgiev started in Colorado’s 5-3 loss at the Dallas Stars on Friday.

“It's a little different than early in the year. Early in the year was just bad. We had some games there where it was just flat-out bad, and tonight wasn't flat-out bad,” Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews said. “We're defending pretty hard for most part and playing a pretty solid, structured game. We're just a little loose on pucks sometimes, a little casual with plays, and not being committed to each other and the structure of our game for a full 60 minutes. And that's what it's going to take to beat most teams in this League.”

EDM@COL: Kapanen, McDavid team up to put the Oilers on the board

Kovalenko scored a power-play goal to make it 1-0 Colorado at 7:02 of the first period. He one-timed a pass from Artturi Lehkonen at the bottom of the right circle.

“It was a really hard hit on the glove, and I thought I had it. I was almost going to celebrate, but I just saw it just trickle in, and that happens,” Skinner said. “It was a really nice shot. It was a hard shot. I was able to get a little bit, but at the end of the day, nobody cares. It was a goal.”

Kapanen tied it 1-1 when he one-timed McDavid’s cross-crease pass at the far side of the net at 11:48 of the first period.

“I liked our first a lot. Looked like we were good. Good things happening both sides of the rink. But after that, it just felt like they wore us down and took over the game,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “Scoring doesn't come easy, and if you fall behind it can get frustrating for your team.”

Podkolzin scored to make it 2-1 Edmonton when he deflected Troy Stecher’s shot from the blue line through Georgiev at 13:48 of the second period.

“Always fun to score. Always fun to be useful for the team, but again, I try to not talk about it too much,” Podkolzin said. “I'm going to keep working, going to keep helping my team to win, and just stay positive and have fun out there.”

Kulak extended the lead to 3-1 with a snap shot from the blue line that found its way through traffic at 3:56 of the third period.

“It's frustrating because it's very tight in the standings, and you need to get on a roll at some point,” Mikko Rantanen said. “You got to win games in a row, more than three, to have a good spot to go to playoffs. So we got to find a way to try to get some wins in a row.”

EDM@COL: Kulak scores from a distance to extend lead

Nugent-Hopkins scored into the empty net at 18:28 for the 4-1 final.

NOTES: McDavid recorded his 23rd career assist streak of at least five games and tied Evgeni Malkin for the second most among active players behind Sidney Crosby (28). … McDavid also recorded his 43rd career point streak of at least five games and passed Jari Kurri (42) for the second most in Oilers history behind Wayne Gretzky (47). … Skinner (139 games) became the seventh goaltender in Oilers history with 80 career wins and the third fastest to reach the mark after Andy Moog (121) and Grant Fuhr (138). … Samuel Girard played in his 500th career NHL game and became the 58th Quebec-born defenseman in NHL history to play in 500 contests. …. The Avalanche acquired goaltender Scott Wedgewood in a trade with the Nashville Predators in exchange for goaltender Justus Annunen and a sixth round pick in 2025 on Saturday.