OILERS OVER AVS
McDavid pots winner in OT
All the people complaining about a lack of consistency with the Edmonton Oilers got some this week.
After blowing a 2-0 lead Tuesday against Boston, the Oilers spit up another 2-0 lead Thursday against Colorado.
Up 2-0 late in the second, the Oilers thought they were free and clear, but a Colorado goal with 18.9 seconds left in the second and another one 50 seconds into the third turned a sure win into a frantic scramble that wasn’t settled until Leon Draisaitl set up Connor McDavid for the overtime winner at 2:19.
Whew.
Losing back-to-back games at home after leading 2-0 would have been all of the salt this season-long wound could have bared, but the Oilers fought their way out of it for their second win in nine games, both against Colorado.
The Oilers pounded the Avs with 19 shots and half a dozen great scoring chances in the first period and should have run away with it in the first 20 minutes, but Colorado goalie Semyon Varlamov gave them nothing and it was 0-0 after a frustrating period.
It was more of the same in the second period, with Varlamov stopping Anton Slepyshev and McDavid on breakaways. Draisaitl finally broke through, skating through three Colorado players before scoring on a backhand.
It was all Oilers but it was still only 1-0.
Zack Kassian finally gave them some breathing room with his Jari Kurri impression, putting Edmonton up 2-0 at 14:33.
They almost made it to the intermission, but Samuel Girard put a screened shot in off the post with 18.9 seconds to go and everyone in the building was thinking about the Boston game again.
Sure enough, 50 seconds into the third period it was all tied up on Colin Wilson’s goal.
Late hits: The Oilers were without Patrick Maroon, who is nursing what head coach Todd McLellan called a minor lower-body injury. They think he will be ready Saturday for the first game of Edmonton’s three-game road trip. Drake Caggiula (illness) was also out, as was defenceman Andrej Sekera, who is skating and has been cleared for contact but still is not ready to go after being hit in the face with a puck last week. The Avs were also short-handed coming in, missing defencemen Erik Johnson and Anton Lindholm.