EDMONTON, Alberta — On a day when plump turkeys are the favorite fare in America, the Avalanche seemed to lack a little hunger north of the border. As their third Thanksgiving Day game unfolded, however, the Avs’ appetite grew.
Colorado rallied from an early, self-inflicted deficit and at times dominated the Edmonton Oilers, but two high-profile rookies in blue-and-orange sweaters combined to make the difference in the final minute at Rexall Place.
Taylor Hall took a circle-to-circle pass from Jordan Eberle and beat goalie Peter Budaj with a quick wrist shot to give the struggling Oilers a 3-2 victory over the now-struggling Avalanche.
The goal came with 28.1 seconds remaining, leaving Colorado without a point on its two-game Canadian road trip against Northwest Division foes.
“Tough play at the end. Back door to Hall, after a little breakdown in our zone,” Budaj said. “We should have maybe scored more goals. I think we outplayed them. I don’t want to take anything away from Edmonton, but I think we outplayed them and deserved the two points.”
The Avs got goals from two of their youngest players, Kevin Shattenkirk and Matt Duchene, and outshot the Oilers 28-11 after two periods and 37-24 for the game.
But they played without goalie Craig Anderson (groin) and defenseman Adam Foote (knee), who were injured in the first period of Wednesday’s 4-2 loss at Vancouver, and the two emotional leaders were missed.
The Avs came out flat and were down 2-0 less than four minutes into the game. Some intense forechecking by the Oilers’ line of Gilbert Brule, Andrew Cogliano and Dustin Penner led to goals by Brule and Cogliano.
Both times, Avs defenders played sloppily behind the net, and the puck ended up in front of Budaj without sufficient coverage. Brule’s goal went off Cogliano’s skate.
Colorado clearly wasn’t ready to play, and coach Joe Sacco called a timeout to try to prevent further damage.
“We really didn’t start on time. We had a few guys that weren’t ready when the puck dropped, (and) that cost us a couple of goals,” Sacco said.
Shattenkirk scored 2:01 after the timeout to cut the deficit in half, and the Avs went on to produce 12 of the period’s 16 shots. So Sacco’s verbal spanking appeared to pay off.
Colorado tied it 2-2 early in the second period on Duchene’s power-play goal, his second tally in as many games, but the Avs couldn’t get anything else past Martin Gerber.
Gerber, 36, was making his first career start for the Oilers after being called up from the American Hockey League last week. He mostly played in Switzerland and Russia the past two years.
Chris Stewart, the Avs’ leading goal-scorer, failed to register a point on the trip.
“We know we can score goals. We’ve come back from 2-0 deficits before. We had our chances, and we could have taken it to OT,” he said.
Edmonton entered the game having scored 25 fewer goals than the Avs, in just one fewer game. Thursday was the first of six meetings between the longtime division rivals.
Mike Chambers: 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com
Avs Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Taylor Hall.
Oilers’ 19-year-old rookie got the game-winning goal.
2. Martin Gerber.
Made 35 saves in his debut with the Oilers and first NHL game since the 2008-09 season.
3. Kevin Porter.
Avs winger had a game-high six shots while playing on the Matt Duchene-centered line.
What you might have missed
Thanksgiving wasn’t celebrated in Canada on Thursday, but it was the official beginning of the annual Grey Cup festivities, and Edmonton is hosting the Canadian Football League championship Sunday between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal Alouettes.
Up next
Minnesota, Saturday, 7 p.m., Pepsi Center
