It’s only mid-January, but this season’s Edmonton Oilers already look an awful lot like the Avalanche of late last season.
That’s pretty awful, indeed.
The Avalanche won its fourth consecutive game in impressive fashion Monday night, getting two goals apiece from Kyle Cumiskey and Matt Duchene and one from John-Michael Liles and Chris Stewart in a 6-0 rout of the Oilers at the Pepsi Center.
Also, Wojtek Wolski had three assists and Craig Anderson made 24 saves in his fourth shutout of the season — one he didn’t need to be very heroic to get against an injury-riddled and listless Oilers team that is 1-14-1 since mid-December.
“It’s great. The guys came out together and played a full 60 minutes,” Anderson said. “We never let up. We never let them get back in the game. The penalty kill was great. We had a lot of blocked shots, and we spent a lot of time in the offensive zone, which was terrific for us.”
The four-game winning streak equals Colorado’s longest of the season, accomplished twice in October, and the first-place Avalanche opened up a four-point lead on Vancouver and Calgary in the Northwest Division.
“I think we just made it easy on ourselves,” said Duchene, who turned 19 on Saturday and whose two goals gave him 15 for the season. “They’re a team that’s very fragile right now because they’ve been losing games. I’ve been on bad teams before and had tough times, and it’s really tough when you get down by some goals to come back and have that will to win. I knew if we got on them early, we could take advantage.”
Duchene also had an assist. His three points pulled him into sole possession of the NHL rookie scoring lead, two points ahead of the Islanders’ John Tavares.
“I’m really focusing on everything but offense right now, to be honest with you,” Duchene said. “I’m focusing on playing a real good two-way game, not just in my own end, but in the neutral zone. I’m making sure I’m not having any turnovers, and that I’m finishing checks and backchecking hard and picking guys’ pockets in the neutral zone. I think when you make that a priority, the offense just takes care of itself.”
A sobering note was a head injury suffered by Avalanche defenseman Ryan Wilson in the first period, when Edmonton’s Jean-Francois Jacques checked him into the end boards. Wilson didn’t return to the game, and Colorado went with five defensemen the rest of the way. Avalanche coach Joe Sacco said after the game that he hadn’t gotten a specific diagnosis of Wilson’s injury, and that he might not know more until today.
The irony was that a Wilson hit knocked New Jersey star winger Patrik Elias out of action Saturday, and Elias had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher before tests determined he had suffered no serious injuries. Also, the Oilers didn’t like a Wilson hit on captain Ethan Moreau in a Nov. 18 game at Edmonton, primarily because Wilson caught Moreau near center ice with an elbow to the head. Moreau didn’t return to the ice after that early hit that night, but he didn’t miss any games.
Sacco did say that he didn’t believe the hit on Wilson was a payback. “I just think it was part of the game,” he said.
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
Avs Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Matt Duchene.
Rookie center scored twice.
2. Craig Anderson.
Colorado goalie got his fourth shutout of the season.
3. Kyle Cumiskey.
Avalanche defenseman had a pair of goals.
What you might have missed
You know it’s out of hand when David Koci, who rarely plays in third periods, gets five shifts during the final 20 minutes.
Up next
Vs. Nashville, Friday at 7 p.m.
Terry Frei, The Denver Post
