Cale Makar scored the overtime winner as the Colorado Avalanche downed the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 Saturday night at Rogers Place.
“In the end, it came down to a play in overtime,” Oilers Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. “There’s a lot of special players on the ice–it was a hard-fought point. I would’ve loved to have two, but we got one.”
The Oilers were up 1-0 after the first despite being outshot 15-7. Stuart Skinner made several strong saves with Zach Hyman converting a power play pass from Connor McDavid.
The Avs kept the pressure on in the second, but couldn’t break through thanks to a couple of crossbars and more solid work by Skinner. Hyman crammed in another power play goal with 4:57 to go in the second. The play survived a goalie interference challenge from the Avs.
Nathan MacKinnon put Colorado on the board with a brilliant rush three minutes into the third. He accelerated through the Oilers defence and flicked a shot over Skinner’s glove.
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“(McDavid) has done it at practice on me for the last five years here, so I’ve had a lot of practice,” Skinner said of MacKinnon’s highlight-reel goal. “He made a nice move and I actually read it pretty well, but he made a nice shot and I was half a second too slow.”
“He gets the puck in a spot where he’s turning into it and just gets galloping, and that’s tough to stop when he has that much speed,” MacKinnon’s former teammate Tyson Barrie said.
With the teams playing four-on-four, Brad Hunt walked in and snapped home his first of the season, making it 2-2 with 11:41 on the clock.
Brett Kulak thundered a one-timer off the post early in overtime. Makar won it with a shot off the rush with 2:51 left.
“It’s a tough way to lose. I’m obviously pretty frustrated right now,” Skinner said. “It was a great shot–he’s obviously the best defenceman for a reason. He’s great offensively and he’s a threat in every situation.”
Skinner finished with 43 saves.
The Oilers, 21-17-3, will play at Los Angeles on Monday (630 CHED, Face-off Show at 7 p.m., game at 8:30 p.m.).
With files from Brenden Escott, 630 CHED