GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Avalanche 1

DENVER, CO – Goaltender Stuart Skinner put in a first-star performance on Saturday night with 27 saves as the Edmonton Oilers claimed their third straight victory with a 4-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche.

The Oilers netminder nearly got to Nikolai Kovalenko's opening goal on the power play in the first period, but his teammates weren't about to let his stellar performance be spoiled after they scored the next four goals to complete the back-to-back sweep for the Blue & Orange this weekend.

"I felt good right from the get-go," Skinner said. "I thought that our team really helped me get in the game early on, so a full team effort here tonight. Getting the two points is massive, especially on a back-to-back. It's hard to do."

Forward Vasily Podkolzin scored in a third straight game, notching the game-winning goal on a deflection in the second period, and Kasperi Kapanen notched his first Oilers goal. Defenceman Troy Stecher recorded an assist on Podkolzin's goal to give him assists in three straight games.

Brett Kulak notched his fifth goal of the season with a seeing-eye shot through traffic in the final frame before Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added an empty-netter. No. 93 recorded a goal and assist as the only multi-point performance among the 11 different Oilers who recorded points in Saturday's collective team effort.

The Oilers improved to 13-9-2 and pulled to within five points of first place in the Pacific Division after the Vegas Golden Knights were shut out 6-0 by Utah Hockey Club.

Edmonton will face Vegas on Tuesday in a massive four-point game at T-Mobile Arena that concludes their three-game road trip.

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers and Avalanche waged a dead-even opening period at Ball Arena in Denver, finishing the frame tied 1-1 and 10-10 in shots. Five of the last seven meetings between the two clubs went to overtime, including Game 4 of the 2022 Western Conference Final, and it looked like we were in for another entertaining contest after the opening 20 minutes.

Colorado struck first late on their opening power play with Mattias Janmark in the box for Edmonton thanks in large part to a pick laid on Connor Brown at the Oilers' blue line by Ivan Ivan that opened up extra separation for Colorado's second-unit power play. Artturi Lehkonen glided into the slot and placed a pass onto the tape of Nikolai Kovalenko for a one-timer from the left circle that trickled past Stuart Skinner despite the netminder getting a big piece of the Russian's shot.

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

The power-play goal ended Edmonton's short-handed streak at eight games (17-for-17).

Almost five minutes later, McDavid put together an incredible shift to help orchestrate the tying goal after he broke the ankles of one of the League's top-tier defencemen in Cale Makar coming into the zone before making a delicious dish to Kasperi Kapanen on the opposite side of the crease to set up the Finnish forward's first goal in an Oilers uniform – his second of the campaign.

McDavid extended his point streak to five games, totalling five goals and five assists, while Nugent-Hopkins' secondary helper made it points in back-to-back games for the longest-tenured Oiler.

SECOND PERIOD

Vasily Pod-GOAL-zin can't stop scoring.

Podkolzin didn't find the back of the net in his first 21 games with the Oilers, but you could tell it was coming for the Russian, who's starting to break out in a big way for the Blue & Orange after scoring in a third straight game 6:12 into the middle frame to give his side the 2-1 lead.

"It's always fun to score and always fun to be useful for the team," Podkolzin said. "But again, I try to not talk about it too much. I just try to keep working and keep finding momentum."

Defenceman Troy Stecher fired a high shot on goal from the top of Colorado's zone that Podkolzin deflected past Georgiev to secure the Oilers winger his second career goal-scoring streak of three games – having done it last as a member of the Vancouver Canucks from Apr. 12-18, 2022.

"You like to see a guy who puts in the work and is a good teammate get rewarded and have success," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "So I think everyone feels happy for him, and just the relief. You saw the relief on his face when he scored that first goal, but the excitement on the bench to see him score that, it was nice and as a team that's what you want to see."

Just like Podkolzin, Stecher's assist was also his third in as many games and leaves the 30-year-old blueliner six helpers shy of 100 for his career.

Stuart Skinner made many key saves on Saturday night, but none bigger than his windmill glove stop on Nathan MacKinnon that came near the midway mark of the second period, which helped keep the Oilers ahead by a goal with over half a period to play.

"The only reason I flashed it was because I didn't really see much. It was a really nice play by him," Skinner said. "He stick-handled probably 100 times within that second, then kind of faked it with the pass and then a super quick release. So it was kind of just a reflex save on my part and a really nice play by him. I was just able to get the better end of it."

After Edmonton's PK streak came to an end in the first period, they made three more important kills while Stuart Skinner made seven more saves in the middle frame to keep Colorado off the board as the Oilers took their 2-1 advantage into the intermission.

The Oilers were looking to win for the 10th time this season when leading after two periods, having gone 9-1-2 in their previous 12 games with the lead after 40 minutes. Edmonton also had five wins this season where they surrendered the game's opening goal.

THIRD PERIOD

There's Podkolzin's streak, and there's also the impressive contributions of Brett Kulak this season – whose career-high of six goals came during the 2017-18 campaign over 57 games as a member of the Montreal Canadiens.

The Parkland County Kid is well on his way to shattering that number after notching his fifth goal in the third period – a total he's amassed so far this season in only 24 games – lifting the Oilers into a two-goal lead with 16:04 remaining in the final frame.

Defenceman Ty Emberson passed it along the blue line to Kulak, who let fly a waist-high wrist shot that went straight through the traffic in front and under the right arm of Georgiev for the 3-1 lead. Emberson and Jeff Skinner got the assists.

The Avalanche pulled their netminder for the final three minutes, but after Stuart Skinner made an unreal sprawling save to take away a one-timer for Nathan MacKinnon, the Oilers were able to ice their third straight victory with a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins empty-netter with 1:32 left in regulation.

The Oilers head to Las Vegas, where they look to complete the perfect road trip on Wednesday night against the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.