Edmonton 4, Colorado 1
When: 10:00 PM ET, Saturday, March 25, 2017
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta
Referees:
Jean Hebert, Kendrick Nicholson
Linesmen:
David Brisebois, Brian Mach
Attendance:
18347
By The Sports Xchange
EDMONTON, Alberta -- Laurent Brossoit made his NHL debut in April 2015. He had to wait until January 2017 to get his first NHL win. Now, in the space of three days, he's got career wins two and three.
Brossoit made 23 saves as Edmonton beat last-place Colorado 4-1 on Saturday at Rogers Place, two days after he appeared in relief of regular starter Cam Talbot and beat the Avalanche 7-4 in Denver.
"It was a little sloppy to start," said Brossoit. "I fought with a couple of rebounds, but once I got a couple of saves under my belt, I felt good throughout. It wasn't the busiest of nights for me, but learning to keep focused through that is a big part of it and I am glad that I did tonight."
The Oilers pulled even with the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks atop the Pacific Division. The teams have 91 points apiece, but the Ducks have a game in hand on the Sharks and Oilers.
"It's nice to be in that mix," said Oiler Leon Draisaitl, who scored the winning goal and is on a seven-game point-scoring streak. "We still have a couple of games left. We're up there, so might as well go for it."
Only 1:54 into the game, the Oilers opened the scoring, with Benoit Pouliot getting a stick on Benning's point shot. The tricky deflection went in over the shoulder of Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard.
But 45 seconds later, Colorado evened the score as Sven Andrighetto blew around Oilers defenseman Adam Larsson and tucked the puck through Brossoit's legs.
The Oilers got the lead back at 10:47 with the red-hot Draisaitl ripping home a cross-ice pass from Caggiula, who temporarily replaced Patrick Maroon as the left winger on the Oilers' top line.
Maroon was in the dressing room getting treatment thanks to a cross-check in the back from Francois Beauchemin, but he returned late in the first.
Connor McDavid, who also got an assist, extended his point streak to seven games. He leads the NHL with 88 points.
The Oilers had the best chance of a scoreless second period when Jujhar Khaira, with an open net staring at him, fanned on a pass from Mark Letestu.
The Oilers made it 3-1 with 11:14 left in the third on the power-play as Drake Caggiula deflected a shot from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Brossoit put an exclamation mark on the night with an outstanding sprawling save on Blake Comeau with six minutes left.
Nugent-Hopkins made it 4-1 with 4:26 left as the Oilers got their second power-play goal of the period.
Nugent-Hopkins has been an Oiler since 2011, and has yet to be in the playoffs. So, he isn't taking the Oilers' battle for first in the Pacific for granted -- and he also knows what the Avalanche's players are going through, playing out the string on a last-place team.
"No game in this league is an easy night," he said. "Sometimes teams have off nights, but most of the time it's pretty competitive. Whatever the standings look like, a lot of times it comes down to one-goal. two-goal games and I know myself, with the Oilers, have been on the other side of things, too. You don't go down without a fight."
Avalanche left winger Gabriel Landeskog said his team simply didn't get the bounces in the third, when the Oilers broke it open.
"We were kind of chasing the game and tried to push as much as possible and they got a couple of power plays and got some momentum off of that -- and capitalized on the power-play, as well," he said. "Against a team like this, especially in the third, in their building, you have to be smart and keep your sticks down and that ended up costing us."
"We hung in there and then took a couple of penalties in the third and they looked like they were having fun there moving it around, and they made a nice play to make a shot-tip there to make it 3-1," said Pickard. "Their goalie made a good save on our chance in the third and they got another one off a tough bounce off the boards."
Oilers defenseman Matthew Benning was helped off the ice halfway through the third after he blocked a shot from Rene Bourque. He did not return.
NOTES: The Avalanche allowed 19 third-period goals in their last five games -- all losses. ... The Oilers are 9-5-1 when wearing their orange third jerseys. .... The Oilers scratched C Matt Hendricks, D Eric Gryba, RW Iiro Pakarinen and LW Anton Slepyshev. ... The Avalanche scratched C John Mitchell, D Cody Goloubef and D Patrick Wiercioch.
Top Game Performances
Colorado |
|
Edmonton |
Sven Andrighetto 1 |
Points |
Drake Caggiula 2 |
Sven Andrighetto 1 |
Goals |
Drake Caggiula 1 |
Mark Barberio 1 |
Assists |
Andrej Sekera 2 |
N/A |
Power Play Goals |
Drake Caggiula 1 |
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
Calvin Pickard .862 |
Save Percentage |
Laurent Brossoit .960 |
Calvin Pickard 25 |
Saves |
Laurent Brossoit 24 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
Colorado
|
25 |
1 |
0-3 |
2-4 |
10 |
31 |
Edmonton
|
29 |
4 |
2-4 |
3-3 |
8 |
27 |
Upcoming Games
-
Edmonton will play their next game at home against Los Angeles. The Oilers have a W/L % of .600 after a win and .486 after a loss.
-
Colorado will play their next game on the road against Calgary. The Avalanche have a W/L % of .238 after a win and .283 after a loss.