Necas breaks tie late in 3rd, Avalanche edge Oilers in teams' final game before 4 Nations

EDMONTON -- Martin Necas broke a tie with the game-winning goal late in the third period, and the Colorado Avalanche won 5-4 against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Friday.

Necas took a cross-crease pass from Nathan MacKinnon and snapped a shot short side past Calvin Pickard's stick to put Colorado ahead 5-4 at 15:37 of the third period.

“It was a good bounceback,” Necas said of giving up a 4-2 lead Colorado held at 6:39 of the second period. “It was a tough game, they have really talented players and we stuck with it and it was a great win.”

MacKinnon, who will represent Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 12-20, had four points (one goal, three assists) and extended his League-leading total to 87 points (21 goals, 66 assists).

“It was a weird game, a lot of penalties, not a ton of 5-on-5, but the chances that we had, we buried,” MacKinnon said. “And I thought overall we did a pretty good job defensively on their top players.

“Obviously, it’s not easy but everyone did a solid job tonight.”

Cale Makar, who will also represent Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off, had two goals and an assist, and Artturi Lehkonen had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche (33-22-2), who have won four of five. Mackenzie Blackwood made 23 saves.

The Avalanche were playing in back-to-back games following a 4-2 win at the Calgary Flames on Thursday.

“You need your big guys to be at their best and sort of carry the load every night,” said Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar. “You’re hoping to get the secondary support on most nights to help you win, but when you’re coming in on a back-to-back and there’s lots of special teams, there’s a bigger role for them to play and they stepped up tonight and got the job done.”

Leon Draisaitl and Corey Perry each scored twice, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two assists for the Oilers (34-17-4), who won their previous two games, both in overtime. Drasaitl's 40 goals lead the NHL and he is second to MacKinnon with 83 points.

Stuart Skinner made nine saves on 12 shots in one period of work before being replaced by Pickard, who stopped 17 of 19 shots over 38:02. Pickard had won 10 of his previous 11 decisions dating back to Nov. 29.

“I don’t think he had much opportunity on the third one, but he made a nice save at the end of the period. But the first two, I felt he could have had,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said of Skinner, who has a save percentage of .879 in first periods this season. “I don’t think he found those or was looking for them right, and ‘Picks’ has been winning us a lot of games.

“And we needed a little boost for our team and he has a pretty good record of late, and we felt that he could come in and do the job.”

MacKinnon put the Avalanche ahead on the power play 1-0 at 9:48 of the first period, snapping a shot from the top of the left circle through Skinner’s legs.

Draisaitl tied it 1-1 at 10:39, also on the power play, taking a pass into the slot from Nugent-Hopkins and sending a one-timer past Blackwood’s glove.

Makar put Colorado up 2-1 at 11:46 with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that beat Skinner glove side.

Perry tied it 2-2 just 36 seconds later, picking up the rebound off of his own shot after Blackwood made the initial glove save, switching to his backhand and lifting the puck over the prone goaltender’s outstretched pad.

Lehkonen, who will represent Finland in the 4 Nations Face-Off on Feb. 12-20, made it 3-2 at 18:08, when he and MacKinnon were sprung on an odd-man rush with a pass up the boards by Devon Toews, another 4 Nations representative of Canada, from Colorado’s end. MacKinnon sent Lehkonen a backhand saucer pass over the stick of Oilers defenseman John Klingberg for a one-timer past Skinner’s blocker.

Makar put the Avalanche ahead 4-2 with a shorthanded goal at 6:39 of the second period after a giveaway by Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard in the neutral zone led to the Avalanche defenseman deking by Connor McDavid and snapping the puck past Pickard’s glove.

Makar became the first defenseman in the NHL with multiple shorthanded goals this season, as he recorded his fifth multigoal game of the season.

Perry made it 4-3 on the power play at 7:48, taking a pass from Jeff Skinner into the crease and sending a shot off Blackwood’s pad that bounced in off the skate of Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard.

Draisaitl tied it 4-4 at 15:59, deking past MacKinnon in the slot and picking up the rebound off his own shot to mark the sixth time in his career he’s scored at least 40 goals in a season.

“I’m not here to talk about myself,” Draisaitl said. “It’s nice to hit that mark, for sure. There’s lots of players around who are a massive part of that, so I’m not taking full props for all of that.

“There’s lots that has to go right and has to go into that.”

NOTES: McDavid was held off the scoresheet as he and MacKinnon met for the 22nd time before teaming up with Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 12-20. One or both of McDavid and MacKinnon have been among the three finalists for the Hart Trophy in each of the previous eight seasons, with McDavid winning in 2016-17, 2020-21 and 2022-23, and MacKinnon capturing the award in 2023-24. ... Colorado went 1-for-5 on the power play, while Edmonton went 2-for-4. ... Makar sits one point shy of 400 on his career (108 goals, 291 assists in 372 games played). ... Draisaitl extended his goal streak to three games (four goals), and his point streak to six games (five goals, four assists). ... Bouchard pushed his point streak to five games (one goal, six assists) ... Draisaitl reached 40 goals in 55 games, beating his previous mark of 61 games in 2021-22, becoming the seventh Oilers player to require 55 games or fewer. He joined Wayne Gretzky (five times, fewest 35 games in 1983-84), Jari Kurri (three times, fewest 40 games in 1984-85), McDavid (48 games in 2022-23), Glenn Anderson (49 games in 1984-85), Craig Simpson (53 games in 1987-88) and Jimmy Carson (55 games in 1988-89).