In Edmonton Sunday night, two teams were chasing a win to end losing skids.
It as the Colorado Avalanche who managed to find their way to the win, 4-1, over the Oilers to end a five-game skid and extend the Oilers’ losing streak to four.
Semyon Varlamov made 26 saves to get the win.
The Avs’ Mikko Rantanen leads the NHL in scoring with six goals and 26 points; he had a goal and assist in the win.
“He’s awesome, Mikko is very special,” Nathan MacKinnon (two assists) said. “He’s a very versatile player, he can do it all out there, and it’s very fun to play with him.”
Carl Soderberg, Tyson Barrie and Alexander Kerfoot also scored for the Avs.
Rantanen just 26 seconds into the game to give the Avs a quick 1-0 lead.
“You can summarize the game in that first 25 seconds,” Edmonton coach Todd McLellan said. “We didn’t establish a directness to our attack, we turned the puck over in the neutral zone, and we got beat to a rebound. It puts us on our heels and gives a team that hasn’t won confidence. They certainly took their game up after that and they chased it.”
The Avs improved to 8-6-3.
“I really liked our commitment to defend,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “Right out of our offensive zone, we weren’t giving up any odd-man rushes. In the D zone, if we didn’t win the battles down low below the goal line, we did a real good job collapsing with their wings and getting on their sticks in front of the net. And when they did get the puck back to the point, we were blocking shots.”
Ty Rattie had the Oilers’ only goal.
“I think, obviously, for whatever reason we weren’t ready to play tonight,” Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said. “I thought the third was a little better, but if you start like that, play like that for two periods, you’re probably not going to beat a single team in this league.”
[WATCH: All Avalanche vs. Oilers highlights]
Cam Talbot got the start and was given the hook after yielding three goals and making only 12 saves.
“It’s big. You get one in the first shift, and you feel good about yourself,” MacKinnon said. “Those are always good when you get one early. They don’t come along very much, but when they do, it feels good. Up 2-0 in the first, a two-goal lead can be a tough one in hockey, but we had a good second period as well.”
Mikko Koskinen, took over in the second period and made 12 saves.
“When they score on the first shift, that is never good. We didn’t play the way we needed to. We weren’t desperate enough. You should be a desperate team when you have lost three in a row,” the Oilers’ Connor McDavid said.
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