GAME STORY: Avalanche 4, Oilers 1

EDMONTON, AB - Ty Rattie tipped home his second of the season in the third period but the Avalanche buried the Oilers by a score of 4-1 Sunday at Rogers Place.
Cam Talbot stopped 12 of 15 shots before being pulled in the second period. Mikko Koskinen made 12 saves of his own in relief.
Edmonton finished the night 1-for-2 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the power play, dropping their fourth game in a row and now sitting with an 8-8-1 record on the season.

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The Oilers host the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. The game can be seen on Sportsnet West, and heard on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED. Puck drop is 7:08 p.m. MST.
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Twenty-six seconds was all it took for the Avalanche to get the snowball rolling.
The National Hockey League's most productive trio of Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog - coming into the night with 64 points combined - made it 67 before a minute had elapsed in Sunday's affair.
Landeskog took the vacant space up the middle of Edmonton's offensive zone then dished it to the side where MacKinnon skated. Last season's Hart Trophy runner-up let a weak shot go but Rantanen was in the blue paint to get a piece of the puck, putting it past a sprawling Talbot to score on their second shot of the game.
MacKinnon picked up a pair of assists on the night, Rantanen had a goal and assist, and Landeskog finished with a lone helper.
"It's not the way you want to start but you got to be able to respond from that, too," said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who had two shots on goal in 18:00 minutes. "We didn't respond well enough."
Oilers Head Coach Todd McLellan felt the opening 26 seconds of the game foreshadowed the outcome.
"You could summarize the game in that 25 seconds," McLellan said. "What that does is it puts us on our heels, it gives a team that hasn't won confidence, it gives their top players - who happened to score the goal - a good feel for the rest of the night.
"They certainly took their game up after that and we chased it."
In an attempt to weather Colorado's snowstorm, Zack Kassian nearly got the equalizer while on the doorstep but was stymied by the left pad of Semyon Varlamov. The visiting keeper made 26 saves to earn his fifth win of the campaign.
The Avalanche continued the flurry, adding another goal before the conclusion of the first. Tyson Barrie skated deep into Edmonton's zone then button-hooked at the goal-line. The defenceman found Carl Soderberg wide open at the top of the left circle. Soderberg's one-timer beat Talbot short side, putting the Avs up by a pair.

"They controlled the game from the first period on," said Nugent-Hopkins. "I don't know why there wasn't more desperation to start the game for us tonight."
The Avalanche doubled up on their lead in the middle frame.
While killing a Darnell Nurse holding penalty, Talbot stopped a point shot and Tyson Jost's rebound attempt but the play continued as the netminder tried to cover the puck. Alexander Kerfoot persisted, eventually jamming at the net hard enough to get the puck to cross the goal-line.
The Avs' third of the game prompted McLellan to pull Talbot from the contest and put Koskinen between the pipes. Talbot finished with 12 stops on 15 shots, still searching for win 100 with the Oilers.
The goalie change didn't stop the goals, however. Barrie netted Colorado's fourth of the night by depositing MacKinnon's centring feed. Barrie notched his first goal of the season on the play, putting his club ahead 4-0.
"You can't take a period off, you can't take any shifts off," said Nugent-Hopkins. "Good hockey teams make you pay for that."

Edmonton finally got on the board to break the goose egg at 9:20 of the third period.
After extended pressure in the Avalanche zone, Adam Larsson got the puck at the point and released a wrist shot. Rattie was in the right place at the right time, tipping home his second of the season and fourth point.
The Oilers appeared to have been getting close to making a comeback but Varlamov did his best to keep it from happening. He robbed Leon Draisaitl on the doorstep then once again from the top of the crease after a pretty passing play on an Oilers power play.
The Orange & Blue couldn't muster any more offence, dropping their fourth in a row. The club will look to right the ship on Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens.
"We know where we're at right now, we know what we've done the last four games," said McLellan.
"That doesn't sit well with anybody."