Something about the Edmonton Oilers and Game 1s breeds chaos. First, we saw them comeback from 6-2 only to lose 9-6 to the Calgary Flames, and now against the Colorado Avalanche, they nearly comeback from a 7-3 deficit only to lose 8-6.
The Oilers started off the scoring just five minutes in, as Evander Kane got his 13th goal in 13 games, but the Avs responded only 36 seconds later, as J.T. Compher tied it. Nathan MacKinnon gave the Avs the lead later in the period, but Zach Hyman followed it up with a goal to tie it with 23 seconds remaining.
Then came the most controversial play of the game, as Cale Makar responded just nine seconds later to give the Avs the lead, but it was on a goal very close to being offside. Did Nichushkin get back in time, or was the goal offside?
The Avs took over in the second period, scoring four of the next five goals, including Compher’s second of the game that got Mike Smith pulled from the game, to take a 7-3 lead in the game. But it wasn’t all good news for the Avs, as they also saw their goalie Darcy Kuemper leave early with an injury. For more on the injury, we have you covered here.
From there, the Oilers began to slowly make their comeback. Connor McDavid made his mark on the series late in the second to make it 7-4, Derek Ryan got his first of the postseason to make it 7-5, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins struck fear in the Avs' hearts to make it 7-6.
The Oilers kept pressuring to get that tying goal, but they just couldn’t get that fourth straight goal, and Gabriel Landeskog iced the game with an empty netter to finish the scoring with an 8-6 win for the Avs.
Despite the eight goals, Makar was the only player on the Avs with three points, while MacKinnon, Compher, Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen, and Devon Toews all had two points. For the Oilers, McDavid had a three point night, while Kane, Nugent-Hopkins, and Leon Draisaitl all got two on the night.
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