GAME STORY: Oilers 6, Avalanche 4

DENVER, CO - There was some mile high scoring in the Mile High City on Tuesday.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl registered three points each, while Mikko Koskinen made 39 saves on 43 shots as the Oilers defeated the Colorado Avalanche 6-4 at Pepsi Center.
Connor McDavid, Darnell Nurse and Kyle Brodziak all had multi-point nights themselves, helping the Oilers win their fourth consecutive game and improve to 17-12-2 on the season.

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The Oilers move on to Winnipeg for a match against the Jets on Thursday. The game can be seen on Sportsnet West and heard on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED. Puck drop is 6:08 p.m. MST.
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"Overall, when you win on the road and especially in this building against that team - that team is arguably one of the best teams in the Western Conference - that's a real good feather in our cap," said Oilers Head Coach Ken Hitchcock post-game.
Fifteen points combined were accrued between the Oilers and Avs' top lines. While Nugent-Hopkins and Draisaitl had solid outings with a trio of points each, Colorado's Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog led overall with four apiece.
"I don't think either team could handle the other team's best players," said Hitchcock. "I don't think they had defence that could handle our guys and we struggled at times to handle their guys."
Edmonton ended the night 2-for-3 on the power play, getting man-advantage goals from Nugent-Hopkins and Nurse.
Nurse was thrusted onto the power play as a result of an Oscar Klefbom hand injury that occured in the second frame.
"He's going to go back to Edmonton for further evaluation," said Hitchcock of Klefbom. "He's got a hand injury and he's going to be out weeks, not days."
The Oilers would have to persevere through an early storm versus the Avs but did so in large part due to goaltender Koskinen. The Finnish keeper made even-strength saves on Tyson Jost then another from the slot on Tyson Barrie - who entered the match with 18 points all-time versus the Oilers.
Koskinen continued to stand tall on the penalty kill, pushing up on Nathan MacKinnon's walkout from the side boards and following it up with a stop on Carl Soderberg's sweep across the crease.
"He held us in there when we needed him to," said Nugent-Hopkins of his netminder. "Down the stretch, when it was still tight, he made some huge saves for us."
Down in the shot-count 9-2 in the period, the Oilers survived the onslaught then scored just after their first power play of the night expired. Nurse went for a wraparound then Brodziak was on the doorstep to bang the rebound far side past goalie Semyon Varlamov. The goal was Brodziak's third of the season, with the assists going to Nurse and Jujhar Khaira.

"We need more from other people... We're going to need more contribution from more people if we want to be a playoff team," said the Oilers coach.
The Orange & Blue poured it on in the middle period. Nugent-Hopkins scored twice while McDavid and Draisaitl netted a goal each to put the club up comfortably for the third.
Nugent-Hopkins ripped one top shelf on the power play at 9:26 to get the ball rolling then added to it just four minutes later when he corralled a centring feed from Milan Lucic and snapped the puck blocker side on Varlamov.
No. 93's second marker prompted Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar to pull his netminder and bring in backup Philipp Grubauer. Grubauer was unable to stop the Oilers, however, being welcomed to the crease by a 5-hole slip off the rush courtesy of McDavid, who notched his 17th of the season on the play.
Rantanen responded for the Avalanche by scoring from the right circle less than a minute later but Draisaitl answered right back for his 16th of the year. The German remained persistent on the puck in Grubauer's crease, digging into his pads to scoop it up and tuck it in, making it 5-1 Oilers.

The goals continued coming in the third period, as Colin Wilson opened the frame with a one-timer to bring the Avs within three.
"We kind of held on in the third," said Hitchcock. "We took a couple of poor penalties that hurt us a little bit there."
Nurse replied on the power play, blasting a slap shot glove side on Grubauer. Colorado challenged the goal for goaltender interference, as Draisaitl grazed the keeper's glove, but the goal stood.
The Avs didn't stop until the final buzzer, scoring twice in the final five minutes to cut the deficit to two goals but couldn't complete the comeback.
Edmonton will travel to Winnipeg on Wednesday and face the Jets on Thursday.