Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist, Stuart Skinner stopped 27 shots and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 on Saturday night.
Kasperi Kapanen, Vasili Podkolzin and Brett Kulak also scored, as Edmonton won for the fourth time in five games.
Nikolai Kovalenko scored for Colorado and Alexander Georgiev made 28 saves.
Kovalenko had a power-play goal at 7:02 of the first period as the Avalanche went 1 of 5 with the man advantage.
Kapanen, playing his fourth game with the Oilers after being claimed off waivers on November 19, equalized less than five minutes later. Connor McDavid brought the puck around the net, drew the attention of the Colorado defense and hit an open Kapanen with a backhand, cross-crease pass for his 19th assist of the season.
Podkolzin put the Oilers ahead for good with 6:12 left in the second period. Troy Stecher got an assist in the game, extending his streak to three games.
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Kulak made it 3-1 at 3:56 of the third and Nugent-Hopkins added an empty-netter with 1:32 left.
takeaway
Avalanche: Samuel Girard, playing in his 500th career game, assisted on Kovalenko’s goal, moving Eric Johnson into sixth place in franchise history with 178 assists.
Oilers: Edmonton improves to 3-11-1 in its last 15 meetings with the Avalanche, including playoffs. It also ended Colorado’s six-game regular season losing streak (0-5-1).
important moment
Podkolzin’s goal proved to be the winning goal and gave the Oilers a stranglehold on the game, which they had largely controlled after the first 10 minutes of the first period.
key data
McDavid led him to 34 points (14 goals, 20 assists) in 22 career games against the Avalanche.
next
The Avalanche visit Buffalo on Tuesday, and the Oilers visit Vegas.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
