GAME RECAP: Avalanche 8, Oilers 6 (Game 1)

DENVER, CO - Well, we knew there would be goals.
After they each averaged more than four goals scored per game in the opening two playoff rounds, the Oilers and Avalanche put 14 tallies on the board in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final on Tuesday at Ball Arena. Unfortunately for the visitors, eight of them belonged to Colorado, who claimed an 8-6 victory and a 1-0 series lead.
Edmonton has now lost each of its three Game 1 matchups so far in the playoffs. Conversely, they went on to win the next two games and eventually the series against both the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames to earn the opportunity to compete for a spot in the Stanley Cup Final.

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FIRST BLOOD

Evander Kane is a goal-scoring machine. The Oilers winger tallied his 13th of the Stanley Cup Playoffs -- four more than any other player -- with a breakaway beauty to give the visitors a 1-0 lead 5:04 into the opening frame.
An Avalanche turnover in the offensive zone allowed Kailer Yamamoto to collect the puck along the boards and find Ryan Nugent-Hopkins streaking into the neutral zone. The centreman then flipped a brilliant backhand pass to Kane, who got in behind the Colorado defence and beat goaltender Darcy Kuemper with a glove-side wrist shot.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Nathan MacKinnon's explosive speed was on full display as the Avalanche extended their lead to 2-1 at the 15:10 mark of the first period. Devon Toews put a perfect stretch pass on his tape in the neutral zone and MacKinnon blew past Darnell Nurse, cut hard to the net and went five-hole on a backhand deke past Mike Smith for his ninth of the playoffs.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Just 75 seconds after Ryan McLeod cut Colorado's lead to 4-3 in the middle frame, Zack Kassian was sprung on a breakaway but Kuemper stuck out his right pad to deny the backhand deke and preserve his team's lead. Almost immediately after the significant stop, the Avalanche scored two goals in 1:42 to take a commanding 6-3 advantage.

TURNING POINT

Make it back-to-back Oilers playoff games with a highly controversial goal review. In Game 5 of the Battle of Alberta, it was Blake Coleman's goal for the Flames that was disallowed due to a slight kicking motion, and on Tuesday in Denver it was Cale Makar's snipe with 16 seconds left in the first period getting upheld due to an offside loophole.
Since Makar didn't have the puck on his stick when it crossed the blueline, Colorado forward Valeri Nichushkin was able to tag up after going offside before the defenceman officially entered the attacking zone. The Oilers challenged the play, the review resulted in the goal getting upheld, and the Avalanche led 3-2 through 20 minutes instead of a 2-2 tie.
Colorado scored 32 seconds into the middle frame on the ensuing power play from the delay-of-game penalty and tacked on five of the game's next six goals en route to the win.

TOP PERFORMER

Makar continued to amass offence at an astounding rate as his one-goal, two-assist effort on Tuesday gave him 47 points in 46 career games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

FAST FACTS

With his opening marker, Kane became just the 10th player in NHL history to score 13 goals within his team's first 13 games of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Oilers legends Mark Messier and Jarri Kurri also accomplished the feat in 1983 and 1985, respectively.
Hyman's first-period tally gave him a goal in six consecutive games. Esa Tikkanen is the only other player in Oilers post-season history to hit that mark, doing so in 1990.
Connor McDavid recorded his 11th multi-point game of the playoffs, becoming just the seventh player in NHL history with 11 or more multi-point games in a single post-season.
Leon Draisaitl tied Oilers legend Glenn Anderson for the longest post-season assist streak in franchise history at nine games, with Anderson doing so during the 1985 playoffs. Draisaitl also became the first player in NHL history to record six consecutive multi-assist games in the playoffs.
MacKinnon has scored a goal in five straight games against the Oilers dating back to 2019-20.

PARTING WORDS

Draisaitl on the start of the game and their first look at Colorado's speed:
"We can't get scored on three times. It doesn't matter what game it is. Obviously, you're chasing it from there on, so we'll be better."
"We know that we can skate with them. We're one of the fastest teams in the league, and when we play to our strength and play to our quickness, we're a really hard team to handle. I think you can see spurts of it in the third period, but it's obviously not good enough if you're down 6-3 or whatever it is. You just chasing the game from there on, so we just have to come out a little sharper and a bit harder."
"It's a positive that there's no quit in our game, but at this time of the year we know that already. Obviously we've showed it again tonight, but we don't want to be in these situations. That's not how you win hockey games this time of year, so as I said, regroup and adjust a couple of things and be better."
Nurse on sticking with it and having the chance to tie the game late:
"We stuck with it, but you give up seven and an empty-netter for eight, it's tough to win in this league at this time of year if you're giving up that many goals."
Nurse on his views of Makar's goal that appeared offside but was upheld by the officials:
"It ended up being a goal. That's all that matters."
Draisaitl on their style of play leading to a few high-scoring games these playoffs with positive and negative results:
"We obviously have to change something. We can't be giving up that many goals and expect ot win a Western Conference Final game. That's the second time this has happened. We have to make sure we're ready to go right off the bat, and we'll be better."

Nurse on defending their big guns with plenty of speed and what the Oilers need to do better:
"You've just got to be over top of them and match their speed. I know myself personally, I didn't do well enough and as a team we can do that a lot better just by being aware of their speed, where it's coming from, reading through the play, they're a good team. They're going to create lots of offence, they have some special players, and Like Leon said we're going to be better and that's on us for the next game."
Nurse on Koskinen playing strongly in relief:
"He played really well. He worked his tail off, made some huge saves to keep us in it there late in the second and throughout the third. We have two really good goaltenders that we believe in and he came in and had a really good performance for us and gave us a chance to be in it late in the third."
McDavid on what happened tonight in Colorado:
"Similar start to our last series, ultimately we obviously weren't just good enough from the start. The game got away from us and we battled back and made it a hockey game at the end, but it's not good enough from the start."
McDavid on if the Avalanche were faster than expected:
"They're a really good team. They're quick like you said but we expected that. They had a good start and we obviously didn't. We got the first goal, but we were a little bit on our heels from the get-go. Real similar to our last series."
McDavid on the Oilers winning tight games in the regular season and playing in shootouts in the post-season:
"We're down 7-3 or whatever it was there, so we had to open it up and take some chances. Maybe it gives it that run and gun feel, but that's obviously not the game we want to play. Just not good enough all over. A lot of stuff that we can clean up, a lot of stuff that was self-inflicted. They're a really good team, we gave them chances and they're going to bear down and score. We got to defend at the same time we found a way to get six so, it was real similar to Game 1 in last series."
Smith on the third goal which was challenged for offside:
"I had no idea it was even close, to be honest. I didn't really get a good look at it so I'm not sure."
Smith on not having the start he would have liked:
"You nailed it. When you're on the bench halfway through a game it's not a good sign. Saying that it's one game and we've been in this position before so you park it and move on. It's a long series."

Smith on the roller-coaster game:
"Obviously we don't like Game 1's of series. That being said, we're a resilient group that doesn't just roll over and die. That's an encouraging part. Obviously, when you're giving up touchdowns in Game 1 of the last two series it's not a good sign, but it shows a lot about our team when we're down we're not out of the fight and we'll continue to battle to the end and play for each other."
Woodcroft on giving up too many goals against the Avalanche in Game 1:
"To a man, we weren't good enough defensively. Score six goals in a game and you should win the game, and for us we know we can be better and we will be as we move forward here."
Woodcroft on the previous three regular-season matchups and how he thought the Oilers handled Colorado's speed:
"All of the games that we've played against them have basically been pretty close games. The other games in the regular season were tighter defensively on both sides. We scored six goals on their goaltending tandem tonight in their building -- that should be enough to win the game. For me, there are things that we have to do in terms of preventing. Sometimes I think it's not about what you get, it's about what you're giving up. We gave up far too much tonight."
Woodcroft on the explanation he received about Makar's upheld goal by officials:
"I didn't really get an explanation. At that point, we looked at it and felt the player had control of the puck and didn't know there was an offside player. We thought it was the right move to challenge that call. It didn't go our way, and that stuff happens. You've got to live with it and move on. We made the decision to do it and we still feel that player had control of the puck, but as I said, things happen in hockey games and you have to move on. We didn't get the kill, that was disappointing for us, but we found a way to chip away and get back into the game. But I'm going to keep going back to it -- we didn't win or lose the game on that call. We gave up too many goals against and we got more to do to clean it up."
"I think control [of the puck] is a discretionary thought process. I think it's not as if the player knew someone was tagging up, lifted his stick up, waited for it, and went back. He's under full control, and anyone that's carrying the puck over the blueline whether your stick is on the puck or not, that's debatable. In the end, as I said, those things happen in hockey and you've got to get over it.