GAME RECAP: Avalanche 2, Oilers 1 (SO)

EDMONTON, AB – Missing the extra point that we wanted.

Goalie Connor Ingram was terrific by making 30 saves, but the Colorado Avalanche scored in all three rounds of the shootout on Monday to pick up the 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers, who settled for a single point at Rogers Place in their push to finish first in the Pacific Division.

Connor McDavid scored his 48th goal of the season in the second period after Sam Malinski gave the Avalanche the lead, leading to a scoreless final frame where the Oilers couldn't capitalize on an extended five-on-three that could've ultimately proved the difference between one and two points.

Ingram shut the door in regulation and on the penalty kill during an Avalanche power play in overtime, but Colorado was clinical in the shootout by scoring in all three rounds, matching tallies from McDavid and Nugent-Hopkins before MacKinnon scored the winner to take home the extra point.

"The commitment defensively was there tonight, and honestly, we had some chances offensively even though our power play had good looks," Connor Murphy said. "So, unfortunately, we didn't get the extra point. It's not fun to take moral victories or anything, so we just have to retool to get on with the next game."

Edmonton sits two points back of Vegas for first place in the Pacific after they defeated Winnipeg on Monday, and can win the division with a victory over Seattle in their final game on Wednesday.

The Oilers will look to earn two points in their regular-season finale on Thursday against the Canucks at Rogers Place with the potential to win a division title or lock up one of the top three spots on the Pacific.

FIRST PERIOD

The Avalanche closed out the period on the power play on an 8-2 run in shots after the Oilers came out hot in the first half, but Ingram was sharp in saving all 13 shots he faced from the Avalanche in the opening frame to help keep it scoreless after 20 minutes.

Matt Savoie had two great chances on deflections that went wide of Scott Wedgewood early on as the Oilers enjoyed the best start with an 8-2 shot advantage of their own before the NHL leaders began to impose themselves in the last 10 minutes of the frame.

Ingram was forced to move laterally to make a handful of tough saves on a pair of cross-ice one-timers for Jack Drury and Ross Colton, taking away each of their dangerous chances from opposite circles after coming across his crease to seal the posts.

After the Oilers couldn't clear the puck late in the period, Adam Henrique was called for holding to send the Avalanche to their first power play, where Ingram once again stood tall to deny Nathan MacKinnon twice on the doorstep from close range and keep it level.

"Since I've been here, I've just seen nothing but good things," Murphy said. "His battle and the way he can survive some scrambly plays when we're getting a little bit hemmed, and he can find those lateral one-timers and make saves. He's got to be our best penalty killer, too.  He's been able to find some of those one-timers through the screens, high tips and stuff, so he's been really good."

Wedgewood did the same before the break when Darnell Nurse got the puck out to start a shorthanded two-on-one, but the defenceman's high shot was blocked aside by the Colorado netminder right before time expired to finish a scoreless first period.

SECOND PERIOD

There was all the exciting action from the opening 20 minutes, but this time, we had a couple of goals – including the equalizer from McDavid for his 48th goal of the season to make it 1-1 after Sam Malinski opened things up for the Avalanche at the halfway mark.

The Oilers killed off the remaining 1:20 of their penalty kill before Vasily Podkolzin – playing in his 300th NHL game and chasing his first 20-goal season on Monday – had a shot graze the right shoulder of Wedgewood to send it wide after it was looking destined for the back of the Colorado net.

But the Avalanche did strike first off a turnover with 10:55 to go in the middle stanza, forcing Evan Bouchard into coughing up the puck from Podkolzin's reverse pass below Edmonton's goal line before Nicolas Roy found Sam Malinski between the hashmarks to snipe the opener into the top-left corner.

After Edmonton was only able to record 10 shots in the first half of the second period, a huge response was about to come in the form of recording the last 10 shots before the intermission, picking up the equalizer after a lucky bounce put the puck right back onto McDavid's stick in the right circle.

The Oilers captain tried to find Savoie in the slot before the puck took a favourable bounce and came right back to him, leaving him an open net to shoot at after Wedgewood tried following his attempted pass to the rookie forward.

If McDavid can record six more points before the end of the regular season – including the final period of Monday's match – he would become the fourth player in NHL history with multiple 140-point seasons as he currently leads the NHL with 134 points.

THIRD PERIOD

Both the Oilers and Avalanche had their chances on the power play in the final frame, but Edmonton's power play couldn't convert when it mattered the most after Colorado managed to kill off an extended two-man advantage and ultimately get it to overtime.

Still, it was a big point earned by the Oilers with many of their Pacific Division opponents winning on Monday night to strengthen their own chases for playoff positioning.

Early in the period, Ingram came up with a massive save on defenceman Jack Ahcan point blank when a pass found him wide open coming through the middle off the rush, and the netminder reacted in time to stay big in his crease and come up with the stop.

"I think he's just really coming into his own here," Mattias Ekholm said. "Obviously, coming into a situation where you don't really know anyone, just coming in, he's just tried to do his thing and is starting to get more comfortable. You can tell out there he's got more swagger. Really liking his game. Pucks are hitting him, and I think he's been our best player here the last little bit."

The Oilers' penalty kill stood strong when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was called for a debatable slash on Valeri Nichushkin that left them shorthanded for the second time on Monday, but the power play couldn't make it count over 1:26 of a five-on-three man advantage just over a minute later with Nichushkin and Kelly in the box for Colorado.

OVERTIME & SHOOTOUT

The job of winning the extra point became about getting it to the shootout 2:06 in overtime when Kasperi Kapanen went too hard into the crease and took out Wedgewood, sending the high-powered Avalanche to the power play with the chance to win it at four-on-three.

Ingram stood on his head – as he had all night for the Oilers – by making a massive lateral save on MacKinnon from the left circle, then getting some crucial help from the goal post when Landeskog deflected it off the iron at the near post with an open net.

"I thought we did a great job, though," Ingram said. "Nothing really through the seams. And even when they did, they put it back to the top, which shows we're in good spots. Murph and Doc are putting it on the line to make sure those don't get to the net."

But despite the netminder's heroic efforts, the Avalanche were clinical in the shootout.

Each team's first two shooters scored when called upon, with McDavid and Nichushkin going shot-for-shot before Nugent-Hopkins' incredible move to roof it over Wedgewood was one-upped by a nice 'Forsberg-esque' move from Martin Necas.

In the third round, Roslovic couldn't slide it home five-hole on Wedgewood, and MacKinnon went low blocker on Ingram to seal the extra point for the Avalanche.

"You gotta find a save somewhere," admitted Ingram.

The Oilers bagged an important point with strong team defence and goaltending, but it was a tough point to take, considering they've now scored only one goal over their last two games while missing names like Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman from the lineup.

"With the lineup we have right now, we gotta find ways to score more goals," Ekholm said. But obviously, we've got some guys out, but every team does, and we have to deal with injuries. That's part of it. So I think we've got a strong lineup in here that can all score goals, and it's just a little bit of a slump these last two games."

"But as long as we take care of the D side, we're still in games, and we have been that in both of these. So you got to keep building, and playoff hockey is different than regular season in that sense."