Team Effort Prevails In Edmonton

If the Colorado Avalanche was going to replace some of the offensive production that had been provided by Nathan MacKinnon, it was going to have to be a collective effort.
That is what the team got on Thursday night at Rogers Place.
Two defensemen tallied, Blake Comeau scored while the club was shorthanded and J.T. Compher won the game for the Avs in overtime in a 4-3 victory at the Edmonton Oilers.

"Nate is a huge piece of our team. It is really hard to replace a guy like that, and you can't do it with one individual. It has to be a team effort," Compher said. "I think that is what we did tonight, and what we have to do moving forward without him."
Compher scored his 10th of the campaign 2:28 into the extra session after Tyson Barrie's shot from the slot ricocheted off an Oilers player and right to Compher for a tap-in into an open net.
It was Compher's third game-winner of the season and second in overtime, which ties him for the league lead among rookies. He is also the first freshman player to score two OT goals in a campaign in franchise history.

"I thought Barrie made a nice play on that goal, was patient looks some guys off, he gets one to the net, we get the rebound," said Colorado head coach Jared Bednar. "Those were the guys that got scored on in [Vancouver on Tuesday], so to get a little redemption here tonight and get the extra point is big."
The Avs defense got the team going offensively in the second period as Nikita Zadorov tallied off an Edmonton turnover on a slick wrist shot and Samuel Girard notched a marker nearly five minutes later on a slap shot from the point.
Zadorov also made an impact on the side of the ice that he's usually known for when he broke up Connor McDavid's breakaway chance early in OT.
"Zadorov tracks down McDavid there on the one where he almost catches a break, does a nice job," Bednar said. "We wanted to make sure that we were still defending and doing the right things defensively in overtime."
McDavid had already burned the Avs twice in the game, including tying the contest with 28.3 seconds left in the third period.
"One of the best players in the world. We tried to shut him down the best we could," Zadorov said. "Maybe just next time we have to be more aware, stay closer to him. But I mean, good players, that is why they're good players, because they score goals."

The Avalanche responded well after McDavid's second tally sent the game into the extra frame, as the team had all of the shots on goal in overtime and eventually put an end to the contest and its three-game losing streak.
"You just have to stay composed and stay with the game," Compher said of the Avs' approach after McDavid's late goal. "Things are going to happen like that. He's a good player. It's a good hockey team. I thought we bounced back well. Obviously, we would have liked to get the two points in regulation, but we'll take them any way we can get them."

BIG 5,000

Blake Comeau's short-handed goal with 29 seconds left in the second period was a key tally for the team. Not only did it give Colorado a 3-1 lead heading into the second intermission, it also marked the 5,000th goal since the Avalanche moved to Denver in 1995.

The tally also came nearly 30 seconds after the Oilers thought they scored the tying marker, which was overturned after the Avs challenged for goaltender interference.
Comeau's short-handed goal was his career-high third of the season and tied him for second in the league. Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers is the NHL leader with five.
It was the ninth time in Comeau's career that he has had scored while his team was down a man on the ice, and it was his sixth as a member of the Avalanche. He is tied for 10th place in franchise history in the category with Milan Hejduk, Wilf Paiement and Peter Stastny.

MACKINNON OUT 2-4 WEEKS

Nathan MacKinnon missed his first game of the season and the Avs will have to battle through a few more outings without their All-Star forward this month.
Head coach Jared Bednar announced after morning skate on Thursday that MacKinnon will miss two-to-four weeks with an upper-body injury that he suffered on Tuesday at the Vancouver Canucks. With that timetable, the 22-year-old could miss between seven and 14 games.
MacKinnon is second in the NHL in scoring with 61 points and is on pace to set career highs in all three scoring categories after having already registered 24 goals and 37 assists this year.
He was one of three players that had played in each of Colorado's first 49 games prior to the contest in Edmonton.

GIRARD SCORES FIRST WITH AVS

Rookie defenseman Samuel Girard scored his first goal with the Avalanche on Thursday night.
Girard tallied his second of the season after his slap shot from the left point beat Al Montoya during a power play at 7:52 of the second period.

It was the 19-year-old's first goal since Oct. 12 versus the Dallas Stars when he was still a member of the Nashville Predators. That was his second career NHL game.
The Avalanche acquired Girard as part of a three-team trade with Nashville and the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 5.

JOST COMES HOME

Avalanche rookie forward Tyson Jost played his first NHL game in his hometown and had plenty of support from family and friends at Rogers Place.
Jost is from St. Albert, Alberta, roughly 25 minutes northwest of Edmonton and grew up an Oilers fan. He went back home to have dinner with his family on Wednesday night.

"We obviously know that he has a bunch of people in town, and it's an exciting day for him," head coach Jared Bednar of Jost pregame. "As coaches and teammates, we're excited for him. I think everyone in our locker room wants him to do well here, just like we wanted [Alexander Kerfoot] to do well in Vancouver. Our guys are aware of it. It's going to be a fun night for him, playing in front of friends and family is always an exciting thing. You come into a rink like this tonight against the Oilers, a team he grew up watching, I think its extra exciting."
Jost had two shots and three hits in 15:36 of ice time. And while he didn't get a point, he helped create the Avs' first goal of the night as his pressure on an Oilers player forced an errant pass that went to the stick of eventual goal scorer Nikita Zadorov.

YAKUPOV RETURNS TO EDMONTON

Nail Yakupov made his second trip back to Edmonton since being traded by the Oilers prior to the 2016-17 campaign.
Selected No. 1 overall in the 2012 NHL Draft, Yakupov dressed in 252 games with the Oilers from 2013 to 2016 before the St. Louis Blues acquired him on Oct. 7, 2016. He signed with the Avalanche as an unrestricted free agent last summer.
"I think I have really good memories here," Yakupov said of returning to his first home city in the NHL. "The fans were really warm here. It was really comfortable to be here, live in this city, play for this team."
Yakupov scored in his first trip back to Edmonton on Oct. 20, 2016.
The Nizhnekamsk, Russia, native has nine goals in 44 games with the Avalanche his season. It's the most tallies he's had since scoring 14 times in 2014-15 with Oilers.