EDMONTON, Alberta — There is no such thing as a perfunctory night for the Avalanche in Edmonton. Oh, back in the glory years, maybe, but the Avs have had nothing but one roller-coaster game after another at Rexall Place in recent years, and Thursday was just the latest not-for-the-weak-stomach ride.
For the second straight season, the Avs got out to a three-goal lead here, looking in complete control of a game against a last-place team. And for the second straight season, the Avs blew that lead.
But this time, the Avs got the two points, beating Edmonton 4-3 on the strength of Milan Hejduk’s lone goal in the shootout.
After the Oilers came all the way back from a 3-0 first-period deficit to tie it at 4:53 of the third on a goal by Andrew Cogliano, Avs coach Joe Sacco called a timeout and gave his team a red-faced tongue-lashing that seemed to get his team back into things mentally.
“We just needed to regroup and get back to what made us successful in the first period,” Sacco said. “You’ve got to give Edmonton some credit. They didn’t quit. We got off to a great start, and when you get off to a great start, you obviously give yourself a better chance to win.”
The Avs had a 3-0 lead by the 14:49 mark of the first period, on goals by TJ Galiardi, Paul Stastny and Tomas Fleischmann. They had numerous chances to blow the game wide open, but started to get a little too fancy with the puck and didn’t finish plays off.
Then, the Oilers started to become the beneficiaries of a handful of questionable non-calls, such as when Avs defender John-Michael Liles was tripped with the puck behind the net, leading to Taylor Hall’s goal at 9:30 of the second to make it 3-1. Ales Hemsky and Cogliano scored in the third, and it was nervous Nellie time. Avs goalie Craig Anderson (32 saves) kept his team afloat from there.
“Whether it’s 3-3, 1-1 or 0-0, it’s my job to make the next save,” Anderson said. “I left a juicy rebound on that third goal, and I just wanted to pick my team up from that one.”
Anderson stopped all three Oilers shots in the shootout, the final one on rookie star Hall, ending the contest.
“For me, it was just a matter of making myself look big,” Anderson said, “and not let anything get through me.”
Hejduk beat Oilers goalie Devyn Dubnyk with a perfectly placed shot inside the right post on Colorado’s first shootout attempt.
“He’s a big man. I just wanted to go high and just hit it,” Hejduk said. “I don’t know if we stopped playing or they picked it up a bit, but we let them back in it. We’ve got to make sure we don’t let teams get back in it like that.”
Said Sacco: “Overall, it’s a good start for us in the road trip, to get those first two points in the bank. I thought Craig played very well for us, coming up with some big saves.”
Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com
Avs Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Craig Anderson.
Avs goalie kept his team in it in third and was big in shootout.
2. Ales Hemsky.
Oilers forward scored and was dangerous with puck all night.
3. Paul Stastny.
Avs center scored and assisted on another.
What you might have missed
The Avs won 63 percent of the game’s faceoffs.
Up next
At Calgary, tonight at 7 p.m.
