McDavid lifts Oilers past Avalanche in OT

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid scored at 2:19 of overtime to give the Edmonton Oilers a 3-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Rogers Place on Thursday.
Leon Draisaitl muscled past defenseman Samuel Girard, and then split forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen before passing cross-crease to McDavid, who shot over Colorado goaltender Semyon Varlamov's glove.

"In 3-on-3 (overtime), there is so much room, if you don't have the skating ability like Connor does, which I don't, clearly, it's hard to beat guys with speed for me," Draisaitl said. "I have to find other ways, and I thought it was an entertaining overtime period."
WATCH: [All Avalanche vs. Oilers highlights]
Draisaitl and Zack Kassian scored, and Cam Talbot made 28 saves for Edmonton (25-31-4), which is 2-7-0 in its past nine games with both wins coming against the Avalanche. The Oilers are 18 points behind the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Girard and Colin Wilson scored, and Varlamov made 43 saves for Colorado (32-23-5), which is 3-4-1 in its past eight games. The Avalanche are two points behind the Blues for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.

"It wasn't a great game by us," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "I think they had a good game, I don't think we did. For me, I think we're lucky to get a point out of that. I don't think it was a great team effort by us."
Draisaitl scored at 2:45 of the second period to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead. Draisaitl slipped the puck through the legs of Rantanen before skating around him and shooting a backhand that hit Varlamov and went in.
"From an offensive perspective, he [Draisaitl] was a force," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "He used his body very well and accelerated out of protecting the puck where he could push off and create space for himself. Really, on both goals, that was nice to see. I thought that line [Milan Lucic-McDavid-Draisaitl] started slow and got going as the night went on and Leon was a big part of it."
Kassian scored at 14:33 to make it 2-0 on a one-timer from the slot after Mark Letestu forced a turnover and passed to him from behind the net.

Girard scored to make it 2-1 at 19:41 on a slap shot from the point.
Wilson tied it 2-2 50 seconds into the third period. Tyson Jost's initial shot was deflected and bounced between the circles, where Wilson gathered the loose puck and shot into an open net.
"Every game from now on is huge for us, and our goal is to be in the playoffs, and we're going to have to do a lot better than we were tonight," Jost said. "I know our team is capable of that. Everyone has to be a little better, and our compete has to be a little bit higher. These points are crucial for us, because our goal is to get in the playoffs and we just have to get better."

Goal of the game

McDavid's goal at 2:19 of overtime.

Save of the game

Talbot's save on Alex Kerfoot at 13:40 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Draisaitl's goal at 2:45 of the second period.

They said it

"We find a way to crawl back into it and take it to overtime, but it wasn't a good enough all-around team effort committed to the way we have to play at this time of year. To me, it wasn't everyone, but we had too many passengers tonight." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar
"There's always something to play for. I feel like times like this can be really revealing, the guys who still show up for each other, not necessarily the standings, but show up and play for each other can be revealing at times. It's good to see the guys haven't packed it in." -- Oilers center Mark Letestu

Need to know

Edmonton is 14-1-0 when leading after two periods … McDavid has five points (four goals, assist) in his past two games against Colorado … Jost has three points (two goals, assist) in a three-game point streak.

What's next

Avalanche: At the Calgary Flames on Saturday (4 p.m. ET; SNW, ALT, NHL.TV)
Oilers: At the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; SN, SN360, CITY, FS-W, NHL.TV)