GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Avalanche 3

DENVER, CO – Rising to a challenge as high as the altitude in the Mile High City.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice, while Connor McDavid scored the decisive marker on the power play in the third period as the Edmonton Oilers earned a massive 4-3 victory over the League-leading Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night at Ball Arena.

The Oilers locked in to secure two massive points against the NHL's best, erasing two first-period leads off tallies from Nugent-Hopkins and Jack Roslovic before No. 93's second goal in the middle frame and Connor McDavid's power-play winner in the third ultimately condemned the Avalanche to only their 11th defeat.

"These last two games, we've understood where we're at and how important these points are, no matter who you play," Nugent-Hopkins said. "You play against the best team in the league, and you're going to have to bring it. I thought we did a great job."

"These are games that you can look back on next month and really rally behind and understand that when we play like that, we can beat anybody."

Tristan Jarry stepped into the crease late in the second period and made 11 saves on 12 shots to earn the win after Connor Ingram was forced out from a collision with Nathan MacKinnon in the crease, finishing with 15 saves of 17 shots before exiting due to injury.

Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard both recorded two helpers, Connor McDavid posted a goal and an assist, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins finished with two goals.

With more wins in the standings and a loss for the Golden Knights on Tuesday, the Oilers passed them for second place in the Pacific Division despite being tied on 72 points.

Edmonton will continue its road trip on Thursday with a meeting against the Dallas Stars in the first of a back-to-back before wrapping on Friday versus the St. Louis Blues.

FIRST PERIOD

Being in the Mile High City, it was only fitting that the Oilers went upstairs twice in the opening 20 minutes to erase two separate leads for the Avalanche after Ross Colton put Colorado ahead 1-0 only 32 seconds into the contest.

Despite receiving a heavy reverse check from Ty Emberson behind the Oilers' net on the game's first sequence, Colton was able to collect himself and the puck off a turnover at the blueline not long after before firing it top shelf through traffic on Connor Ingram.

Former Oilers defenceman Brett Kulak was guilty of a hooking call off a great rush from Connor McDavid almost eight minutes later, and the captain provided the set-up on the ensuing power play to unlock Ryan Nugent-Hopkins alone in front to roof his 16th goal of the season over the right shoulder of MacKenzie Blackwood to tie things back up.

"We know these guys are a high-flying team," Nugent-Hopkins said. "They found one early, but I didn't think we changed our game. We came into the mindset of playing everything tight, not giving the easy ones to them, and even after going down one, we did a pretty good job of just sticking to that, and it started to pay off for us."

The Nuge now needs just three more points to reach 800 for his career, which would make him the seventh player in franchise history to reach the milestone, while an assist for McDavid stretched his road point streak to 19 games, totalling 34 points (11G, 23A).

The Avalanche got their lead back on the power play with 4:19 left in the frame through Martin Necas, but it was Jack Roslovic's pressure forcing the puck up the wall in the last minute of the period that turned it over to Leon Draisaitl before he giving it back to him alone in front for a similar finish to Nuge's for his 17th goal of the season.

Draisaitl cut off the rimmed puck meant for Nazem Kadri before sending it to Roslovic, who was alone in front of Blackwood and put it right under the crossbar with 25 seconds left in the period to make it 2-2 at the first intermission after an exciting opening period.

"We understand where we're at time of the year standings-wise," Nugent-Hopkins said. "There was lots of adversity tonight. It would have been easy to kind of pack it in, and we did a great job just sticking to it and trusting each other."

SECOND PERIOD

Nugent-Hopkins nabbed his second goal of the game to give the Oilers the lead in the frame, but concern was with Connor Ingram after he was run over in the crease by Nathan MacKinnon in the final minute of the period to end both of their nights when the Colorado captain was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct.

After crashing the crease and missing a chance to deflect home Zach Hyman's centring pass before running into Blackwood in the crease, Nugent-Hopkins recovered and converted on his second try when Darnell Nurse threw it back in front from the left side for No. 93 to deflect it over the left pad for a 3-2 lead for the Oilers 4:15 into the frame.

Tuesday marked his third multi-goal game of the season and his 11th multi-point game after going pointless in his previous two games.

After Colton Dach was limited to only 1:35 of ice time in the first period before exiting, the Oilers were dealt another blow – this time in goal – when Connor Ingram was forced out after being blown up in the crease by a driving MacKinnon.

MacKinnon's left knee came in contact with Ingram's head as he tried to get to Cale Makar's back-door pass, leading to the netminder having to exit the game and being replaced by Tristan Jarry for the final period.

"We were in a good spot when I came in, so you just want to try and keep that," Jarry said. "You want to keep the guys the same way as if Connor was still playing, so I think just being able to stay even keeled in that moment and just kind of work with what we had."

MacKinnon was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct, which the officials reviewed and upheld, putting the Oilers on the power play for over four minutes after Connor Murphy's tripping penalty expired. 

The Oilers would also be down a defenceman after Ty Emberson left after playing eight shifts and 5:35 of ice time, reducing the Oilers to 11 forwards, five defencemen and a goalie for the remaining 20 minutes.

Jarry made two quick saves before the intermission arrived with the Oilers & Avalanche tied up at 2-2.

"It's always tough to see someone go down, and it's never easy to watch that," Jarry said. "But I think just having to be prepared and mentally strong right off the bat, I think that's all you could really do in a moment like that."

THIRD PERIOD

The Oilers couldn't capitalize on the remaining four minutes of MacKinnon's major penalty, and right on cue, the Avalanche equalized after the seven-minute mark.

Valeri Nichushkin changed the trajectory of Sam Malinski's low shot-pass to guide it into the top corner on Jarry to make it 3-3 with 12:56 left in regulation, but the Oilers found themselves back on the power play just over a minute later with a chance to get it back.

After starting a give-and-go with Draisaitl in the right circle with a terrific spin-around pass to create the scoring chance, McDavid took the return feed from the German and roofed another into the top shelf for the Oilers to give them a 4-3 lead with 10:57 left.

It was the Avalanche's turn with the man advantage before the 10-minute mark when Kasperi Kapanen was in the box for hooking, and despite Jarry being bailed out by a post on the Colorado power play, the Oilers netminder made two massive saves on Necas and Roy to keep his side ahead, rising to the occasion since having to replace Ingram.

Those proved to be the stops that both Jarry and the Oilers needed to secure one of their biggest victories of the season, handing the Avalanche only their 11th regular-season defeat in 63 games this year after holding them off with the empty net.