The Colorado Avalanche scored three times early in the third period to knock off the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Wednesday night.
Oilers forward Jujhar Khaira, back in the lineup after missing two games with an injury, scored the only goal of the first period.
He walked in front and flipped a backhand past Colorado goaltender Philipp Grubauer.
The Avalanche peppered netminder Mikko Koskinen with 19 shots in the second period, but only Colorado forward Nazem Kadri could beat the Oilers goalie.
They failed to score on a five-minute power play early in the second after Oilers defenceman Adam Larsson took a major for elbowing.
The Avs had a two-man advantage for two minutes as Leon Draisaitl took a tripping minor on the penalty kill.
Colorado’s Matt Nieto finished off a two-on-one with Nathan MacKinnon 3:05 into the third. MacKinnon tapped in a rebound to make it 3-1 1:02 later.
Colorado’s Logan O’Connor tallied shortly after that, giving the Avalanche three goals in 2:32.
The Avs outshot the Oilers 17-2 in the third and 50-20 for the game.
Khaira says his team ran out of gas in the third.
“I don’t think we were able to keep up the same pace as the first two periods. I thought the third – yeah, we were a little depleted – but I think in those situations, we just have to figure out a way to play smarter not harder,” he said.
LISTEN: Juhjar Khaira reflects on loss to Avs
Rookie forward Gaetan Haas offered a blunt assessment of the final frame.
“Probably the worst period (of) the whole (road) trip, so yeah, that’s not the way way we want to play,” he said.
“At the end, they win, they were better, and that’s it.”
LISTEN: Head Coach Dave Tippett’s post-game recap
Oilers forward Alex Chiasson left the game in the second period after taking a big hit from Colorado’s Ryan Graves.
The Oilers go 3-2 on their five-game road trip and are 16-8-3 on the season. They’ll host Vancouver Saturday.
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