GAME RECAP: Oilers 6, Avalanche 3

EDMONTON, AB - It's official: playoff hockey is coming back to Edmonton.
The Oilers went shot-for-shot with the Western Conference's elite and came out on top on Friday night, defeating the Avalanche 6-3 at Rogers Place to clinch a spot in the post-season.
Edmonton was paced by an Evander Kane hat-trick, which capped off a frenetic second period that saw five goals scored -- four of them by the Oilers. Connor McDavid had a three-point night, all assists, while the Oilers also saw goals from Evan Bouchard, Kailer Yamamoto, and Kris Russell to generate the six-goal outburst.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

GAME DAY
Photo Gallery
Full Highlights
Look Back at the In-Game Blog
POST-GAME VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Post-Game vs. COL
POST-RAW | Coach Woodcroft
POST-RAW | Kane & Smith
POST-RAW | Draisaitl & McDavid
POST-GAME UPDATES
Inside The Oilers Blog

FIRST BLOOD

Colorado opened the scoring 9:29 into the first period. The Avs caught Edmonton on a change and came in on a 3-on-1 break. A quick sequence of passes from Cale Makar and Bowen Byram set up Valeri Nichushkin to bury his 23rd goal of the season.
Makar's assist gave him his 85th point on the season and brought the Avalanche defenceman within four points of Nashville's Roman Josi for the scoring lead among rearguards.

GOALS GALORE

After a measured first period, both teams came out dealing haymakers in the second. The Oilers struck first when McDavid came wheeling into the zone, drawing in three Avalanche defencemen, before sliding the backhand pass to Evander Kane.
With the league's leading scorer drawing all the attention, Kane easily took the puck behind the net for the wraparound goal just 2:41 into the second period.
The tally helped spark the Oilers offence, who would take the lead a few minutes later courtesy of a little luck and a lot of hand-eye coordination. Bouchard ripped a shot that was deflected over the net, bounced off the glass and off the top of the net before the Oilers defenceman was able to whack the puck out of mid-air for his 11th of the year.
The Oilers lead would be short-lived, however, when Nichushkin found some space in the slot 14 seconds later and fired a perfectly-placed wrister past Smith for his second of the game.
The Oilers reclaimed the advantage again, courtesy of Kane's second of the night and 19th of the season. After a flurry of action in front of Avs goaltender Darcy Kuemper, including a skate save from a sharp angle on the aforementioned Kane, the puck found its way out to Duncan Keith who creeped in from the point. The veteran found Kane down low for the easy one-time finish, capping off the four goals in a 5:38 surge of play.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Smith continued his string of strong performances in the month of April, keeping the score level less than eight minutes into the game. Avalanche forward Darren Helm skated in off the left wing and saucered a feed to a streaking Logan O'Connor. Smith kicked out his right pad and turned aside the Colorado skater's backhand-to-forehand move on the partial break.
The stop was one of eight Smith made in the first period. The 40-year-old has been rounding into playoff form of late, notching a perfect 8-0-0 record in April following Friday night's contest. Smith made several big stops throughout the night, including swiping the puck off the goal line late in the first period to keep the deficit at one.
But the early save set the tone for the performance from the veteran, who stopped 34 of 37 shots to pick up the victory and his 15th of the season.

TOP PERFORMER

Evander Kane continued his goal-scoring ways while wearing the Blue & Orange with arguably his best game as an Oiler. After picking up a pair of goals early in the second, Kane made it rain hats at Rogers Place by undressing Josh Manson with the outside-inside maneuver before depositing the puck high over Kuempers blocker. The tally was Kane's 20th of the season in just his 33rd game, putting the Oilers forward on a 50-goal pace had he played an entire season.
Kane's goals came just 11:39 apart in the second frame -- an impressive feat -- but lagging behind the blistering record set by former Oiler Ryan Smyth who completed the deed in only 2:01 back on Oct. 12, 2006 against the San Jose Sharks in a 9-2 win. The performance was the Vancouver, BC product's fourth career NHL hat-trick.
Kane showed he can dish the puck as well later in the game. The 30-year-old found his newest linemate Kailer Yamamoto in front of the Avalanche net, who completed the long-distance spin-o-rama by backhanding the puck between Kuemper's legs for the Oilers fifth goal of the night.

PLAYOFF BOUND

The Oilers victory officially stamped the Oilers ticket to the 2022 NHL playoffs -- the third-consecutive year the Orange & Blue have qualified -- but the first time since the 2016-17 season that they will be able to play in front of the Rogers Place faithful. The Oilers currently sit second in the Pacific Division with 98 points and would be slated to play the Los Angeles Kings if the playoffs were to start today.
Two more points on the season would have the Oilers crack the century mark for the first time since that 2016-17 season, and just the second time since the 1987-88 season.

PARTING WORDS

Draisaitl on what the team is looking forward to in this playoff run:
"I think that atmosphere, right? That's part of what we play for. Obviously at the end of the day, the main goal is to win a Stanley Cup. But it's fun to see these people come out cheering us on. Even when it's not going our way, they seem to find a way to support us. So we're excited we're in obviously, and step one is done."
Evander Kane's thoughts on the win:
"It was a good team win. Great to clinch the playoffs here at home, I think the first period we came out a little flat and didn't do what we talked about heading into the game. We got off to a strong start in the second and carried the momentum all the way through."
McDavid on Kane taking control of the game with a hat-trick and assist tonight:
"He was great. Obviously, we didn't get off to the start we wanted. We came out in the second and I thought we did a lot of good things. Kaner scored some really nice goals for our group."
Draisaitl on what Evander Kane has meant to this team since arriving in Oil Country:
"He's a gamer. He shows up to big games, he shows up to play, he plays hard, and he has a unique skillset about him. He's a skilled forward, knows how to score, and has that physical element that's big in the playoffs. I think down the stretch here, and especially going into the playoffs, he's going to be big for us."

Woodcroft on Kane's performance fitting well with the Oilers clinching a playoff spot:
"I'm so happy for Evander. It's been an interesting year for him. I'm glad that he wanted to come to Edmonton and be a part of the Oilers organization. He's a big reason why we're at where we are right now. To see him have a game like that where we clinch a playoff spot, I think he's driven to show that type of play in a playoff series.
Woodcroft seeing a relentless nature in his group that is ready-made for playoff hockey:
"I think we're playing hard. We're playing hard, and we also got pushed by a good team today. They had chances, but I liked our resolve and I liked our resiliency after finding ourselves down 1-0. I thought we got better as the game went on, and we're getting more and more comfortable in those types of games which is a good sign.
Mike Smith on the ups and downs of the Oilers season:
"We talked about adversity all the time. There's two ways to go about it. Feel sorry for yourself or grab it and do something about it. I really feel like going through the tough times this year, really made this team stick together and grow and understand what it takes to win tight hockey games. We were able to get on a bit of a roll and get some confidence. Obviously, adding the pieces that we did made a difference and gave us a boost, but it's not something you cant really put a finger on and it's easy to stop playing when things are going bad. It's hard to battle through those tough times and to do something with it and do something about it. It has really taught this group a valuable lesson and it's a valuable one going into the most important time of the year. There's going to be times in the playoffs where it isn't going to go your way but you just have to stick with it, stick together as a group and good things will happen."

Kane on the evolution of the Oilers game to a heavier style of hockey:
"You just look at our style of play, the way we are winning games. You look at a guy like Yamamoto winning battles against guys that are double his size. All through our line-up, even Connor and Drai, you look at how heavy they are in the offensive zone it spreads through the whole team when you see guys doing that kind of stuff. We're playing a type of hockey and a brand of hockey that allows you to be successful when the time counts."
Draisaitl on the up-and-down journey of the Oilers to clinch a playoff spot tonight:
"I think in a perfect world, we would've liked our season to be a little more even-keeled probably, but sometimes that's the way it goes. At the end of the day, we're in right? That's all that matters. That was goal number one and we're happy about that, we're proud of ourselves, but we're a long way from done."
"A little bit too much of an up-and-down season. I think everyone will agree with that. These things happen and good teams go through that. We knew from the beginning that we were a good team. It was hard for us to stay healthy, and that's a big issue. With that being said, every team goes through that and I thought for the most part we did a pretty decent job, other than that long (2-11-2) stretch, of sticking in the race. A lot of changes obviously, but we found our game. That's exciting and that's good news going into the playoffs."