Sam Malinski scored for the Avalanche (53-16-11), who have won three of their past four (3-0-1).
Colorado has already clinched the top seed in the Western Conference, the Central Division title and the Presidents’ Trophy.
“Forget about the standings, it still matters. Winning and losing matters and the group in the room did a good job getting ready to play,” said Avalanche assistant coach Dave Hakstol. “‘Wedgie’ was good, he was rock-solid all the way through. I thought he did a real nice job for us. It’s a continuation of what he’s done for us throughout the season.”
Colorado was without head coach Jared Bednar, who sustained facial fractures and a corneal abrasion after he was struck by a puck in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. Hakstol and fellow assistant Nolan Pratt coached the team on Monday and will also have coaching duties at the Calgary Flames on Tuesday.
“It’s Game 81, right?” Hakstol said. “So, everybody knows what they’re doing and how we’re going to go about our business. But it will be nice to get ‘Bedsy’ back as soon as possible.”
Connor McDavid scored for the Oilers (40-30-11), who are 1-3-1 in their past five. Connor Ingram made 30 saves.
Edmonton is two points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for first in the Pacific Division with one game remaining for each team. The Oilers are also one point ahead of the Anaheim Ducks, who have a game in hand.
“I don’t really know what I’m doing out there, just (thinking) stop the puck,” Ingram said. “You’ve got to find the save somewhere.
“This is when you want to hit your peak and I think we’re hitting our stride a little bit here. Just sticking with it. We went on that stretch there a couple of games ago with five in a row and that’s the kind of hockey we need to play. As long as we keep doing what we’re doing we’ll be just fine.”
Oilers defenseman Connor Murphy said: “The commitment was there defensively tonight. We had some chances offensively and I even thought our power play had good looks. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the extra goal. At this time of year, it’s not fun to take moral victories or anything, so we’ve just got to retool to get a win next game.”
Malinski gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 9:05 of the second period, taking a pass from Nicolas Roy and burying a snap shot from the edge of the left face-off circle over Ingram’s glove.
“Honestly, ‘Roysie’ just made a great play coming from behind the net and I just kind of shot it at the net,” Malinski said. “I feel like they have a ton of offense, so I kind of would have thought maybe a few more goals for each team. But I don’t know.”
McDavid tied it 1-1 at 15:49 after his centering pass into the slot bounced off Matt Savoie and landed in the right circle. McDavid gathered the puck and roofed a wrist shot over Wedgewood’s glove for his 48th goal of the season.
“We’re unfortunate to only score one goal in the last two games,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “It’s not that we’re sitting back and not getting chances. We’ve had some. We’ve seen two really good goaltending performances both these nights.
“You need to score goals to win games, but this group has done a good job generating chances, we just have to put them away.”