GAME RECAP: Avalanche 3, Oilers 2 (OT)

EDMONTON, AB – Artturi Lehkonen scored the game-winner for Colorado with 0.5 seconds left in overtime, bringing the curtain down on a high-action and exciting contest at Rogers Place between two of the Western Conference's elite on Saturday night that ended 3-2 in favour of the Central Division-leading Avalanche.

Defenceman Sean Walker scored twice for Colorado in the victory, opening the scoring in the second period and making it 2-2 at 5:40 of the final frame to force overtime where Lehkonen put away NHL-leading scorer Nathan MacKinnon's last-ditch pass with less than a second left on the clock in sudden death.

Stuart Skinner was stellar in between the pipes for Edmonton with 40 saves, but was outduelled in the Colorado crease by Alexandar Georgiev, who stopped 30 of 32 shots – including a terrific glove save on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in overtime – to backstop the Avalanche to their sixth straight victory.

Corey Perry recorded his 900th career point on centre Sam Carrick's first goal with the Oilers in the third period, while Warren Foegele scored his second goal in as many games with his 16th goal of the season.

Edmonton will return to action on Tuesday night back on home ice at Rogers Place against the Montreal Canadiens.

FIRST PERIOD

Despite no goals from the Oilers and Avalanche in the opening 20 minutes, there was plenty to lead us to believe that our premonition about tonight being an enticing matchup between two of the elite in the Western Conference was correct.

A couple of terrific saves at both ends, a strong opening penalty kill from the Oilers and a poised defensive play from Mattias Ekholm late in the period kept it scoreless at the first intermission after Colorado outshot Edmonton 10-7 in the opening period.

Leon Draisaitl had a dangerous one-timer off a three-on-two zone entry with Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman kicked away by the sliding left pad of Alexandar Georgiev, representing an early reprieve for the 2022 Stanley Cup winners nine minutes into the contest.

The Oilers came close to opening the scoring again four minutes later, with Evan Bouchard knocking down a failed Colorado clearance at the blueline before sending a diagonal pass to McDavid, who wrapped it around to the fat post from behind the net but couldn't tuck it away.

A hooking penalty on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with less than five minutes left in the first sent the Avalanche to the game's first power play, and after the Oilers penalty kill collectively kept the chances to a minimum, Stuart Skinner made a spectacular glove save through traffic on Cale Makar as infraction ended for the Edmonton netminder's biggest stop of the opening 20 minutes.

As the period was about to expire, the Avalanche had a two-on-one between MacKinnon and Valeri Nichushkin that was broken up when the back-checking Ekholm, who was making his return back to the lineup from a one-game absence due to illness, put his stick in front of MacKinnon's attempted cross-ice pass to break up the dangerous opportunity and keep it scoreless 0-0 through 20 minutes.

SECOND PERIOD

When the game's played at this speed, the smallest mistakes can make a big difference.

Defenceman Brett Kulak was forced into an error when Jonathan Drouin found himself on a breakaway less than five minutes into the middle frame, leading to the Stony Plain product getting his stick into the hands of the former third-overall pick in 2013 a penalty shot to give Colorado the advantage.

Drouin came in on his forehand and made a quick cutback to his backhand, trying to sneak the shot under Skinner's left arm, but the Oilers netminder's quick closing of the gap made sure the puck rolled wide instead of squeezing through to prevent the visitors from taking the lead.

However, the Avalanche would break the deadlock on a fast break off a counter-attack that started in their own zone.

Ryan McLeod gave away the puck to Artturi Lehkonen on the half-boards before defenceman Sean Walker was able to get behind a defending Draisaitl behind the red line, leading to Colorado's trade-deadline acquisition scoring his first goal in four games with the club by notching the opening goal with a shot blocker side on Skinner with 9:21 left in the period.

The Oilers were outshot 16-9 and were out-chanced 9-5 in high-danger scoring chances during the middle frame, as per Natural Stat Trick.

THIRD PERIOD

Hyman had looked to have equalized for the Oilers 3:05 into the final frame when he forced the puck through after Draisaitl had knocked down Darnell Nurse's point shot, but upon further inspection by the officials following an Avalanche coach's challenge, the call was overturned for a kick to keep Colorado in front. 

Edmonton was building some momentum early in the third and finally found a breakthrough when Warren Foegele put a deflection on Bouchard's point shot that tipped up and over the glove of Georgiev almost three-and-a-half minutes after Hyman's goal was taken back.

Foegele has scored in back-to-back games and is building on his career year after recording his 16th goal and 35th point of the campaign, making it 1-1 before the Oilers took a one-goal lead – albeit shortlived – on Sam Carrick's first goal as a member of the Oilers.

Corey Perry had no stick when he kicked it ahead to Mattias Janmark, who fired a puck on net from near the top of the right circle that was knocked down by Carrick before the centre turned around and buried the 2-1 tally over Georgiev's left pad with 8:12 left in regulation.

The 32-year-old might have to split that puck with Perry, who picked up his 900th career NHL point on the play with some footwork that moved the puck ahead to his linemate to start the sequence.

"It's nice to get the first one – especially at home here," Carrick said. "So obviously, a great play by Perry to kick the puck up there; a heads-up play, and I think I heard it was his 900th NHL point, so that's pretty awesome. There's a reason why he's been around that long and making plays like that, and him and Janny are fun to play with."

But if you leave a gap for a team like Colorado to come back, they have the quality on their bench to take any opportunity presented to them.

Colorado deadline acquisition Casey Mittelstadt walked out from behind the Oilers net and connected to a wide-open Walker in the opposite circle, who evaded the attention of Hyman while coming down from the blueline to fire home his second of the game that made it 2-2 almost four minutes after the Avalanche had fallen behind.

Overtime would be required after Colorado outshot Edmonton 17-11 in the final frame despite relinquishing a one-goal lead through 40 minutes.

OVERTIME

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had the opportunity to end it on a breakaway in the first minute of sudden death, but as he'd been all night, Georgiev was up to the task by making a monstrous glove save on No. 93 to provide his team the opportunity to win it at the death.

With less than a second on the clock, MacKinnon won a puck battle in the corner and sent a pass out front to Lehkonen, who had space all alone in front of Skinner's crease to one-time his captain's effort inside the near post and secure the Avalanche the extra point in overtime.

"MacKinnon won a battle in the corner and then made a quick, nice pass," Skinner said. "It was probably inches away from getting deflected by Leo and just ended up on the guy's tape. He swung at it, scored, and that's the game.

"Obviously it's tough losing, especially with 0.5 seconds left. Before, you're not really looking at the clock. You're just trying to hope for the best, but that's hockey. It's 0.5 seconds away from being potentially a different game. Leo's stick could be less than an inch away from making a difference. It's a game of inches, so it could have gone either way."

PARTING WORDS

Check back following tonight's game for post-game reaction from the Oilers locker room.