The Edmonton Oilers picked up one of their biggest wins of the season, defeating the league-leading Colorado Avalanche by a score of 4-3 at Ball Arena in Denver on Tuesday (March 10).
Edmonton forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a pair of goals, while Connor McDavid and Jack Rosolovic each tallied once for the Oilers. Colorado got one goal apiece from Ross Colton, Martin Necas and Valeri Nichushkin.
Oilers netminder Connor Ingram stopped 15 of 17 shots before he was on the wrong end of a collision and had to be replaced by Tristan Jarry, who allowed one goal on 12 shots to earn the win. Colorado goalie Mackenzie Blackwood made 20 saves in defeat.
Edmonton (32-25-8, 72 points) is now tied with the Vegas Golden Knights (29-22-14, 72 points) for second place in the Pacific Division, three points back of the division-leading Anaheim Ducks (36-25-3, 75 points).
Oilers Show Resilience
As visiting opponents of the team with the NHL’s best record, the Oilers were big underdogs before the puck even dropped on Tuesday. Then Colton scored 32 seconds into the game, and it looked like the rout might be on.
Edmonton, however, regrouped and drew even just over eight minutes later when Nugent-Hopkins scored his first goal of the game. Necas restored Colorado’s lead at 15:41, but the Oilers responded again, as Draisaitl made a sweet feed to Roslovic, who fired the puck past Blackwood with only 24.8 seconds remaining in the period, ensuring Edmonton would go into the locker room tied.
Considering that Colorado hasn’t lost in regulation all season when leading after the first period, the significance of Roslovic’s goal can’t be overstated. Edmonton was able to start with a fresh slate in the second period and took its first lead when Nugent-Hopkins scored just 4:15 into the middle frame. The Oilers wouldn’t trail for the rest of the game.
Controversial Call Goes Edmonton’s Way
Ingram was run into by Avalanche centre Nathan MacKinnon with 37 seconds remaining in the second period. At the time, Edmonton was leading 3-2 with Colorado on the power play.
The collision occurred as MacKinnon drove hard to the net, tipping wide a pass from Colorado forward Brock Nelson. Oilers blueliner Darnell Nurse dove into MacKinnon, who barrelled over Ingram, knocking the netminder to the ice. After being tended to, Ingram left the game and would not be cleared to return because of concussion protocol.
MacKinnon was assessed a five-minute major and subsequent game misconduct. It was a controversial penalty, given that MacKinnon was hit by Nurse. But after video review, the call stood.
While the Oilers failed to capitalize on that lengthy power play, they most certainly benefited from MacKinnon’s ejection: the Colorado captain, who has 104 points this season, was sorely missed by the Avalanche as they tried to rally in the third period.
Jarry Rises to the Occasion
Ingram’s injury meant that Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch had to turn to Jarry to protect the lead against the highest-scoring team in the NHL.
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It was not an ideal scenario. Prior to Tuesday, Jarry had been mired in an absolutely dreadful stretch, with a goals-against average of 5.40 and a save percentage of .828 over his prior seven games, and he had only played just over 105 minutes of game time since Feb. 5.
But the 30-year-old netminder rose to the occasion, delivering his best performance of the last several weeks. Jarry immediately made a couple huge stops in the dying seconds of the middle frame, keeping Edmonton in the driver’s seat going into the third period.
At 7:04 of the third period, Jarry was beaten by Nichushkin on a tremendous deflection that few goalies would have stopped. McDavid scored a couple minutes later to put Edmonton back in front, 4-3, and Jarry locked it down from there. This marked the second time in Edmonton’s last 13 games that Jarry has come on in relief of Ingram late in the second period and picked up the win.
Following the game, Knoblauch told media that Ingram is “feeling well” but “obviously that can change.” His availability is not yet known for when Edmonton returns to action on Thursday (March 12) for a matchup with the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center.
