MacKinnon ejected, many hurt as Oilers halt Avalanche in 4-3 win: Recap, Reaction and Highlights<\/p>\n
After all, the last time these two teams met, the Avalanche laid a 9-1 drubbing on the Oilers<\/a> in Edmonton that was salt in the wound for a team that had been as shaky as ever to start the season. And while much time has passed since that Nov. 8 game \u2014 some of which came in the form of fresh faces on both sides<\/a> \u2014 it still served as a measuring-stick game for the Oilers.<\/p>\n To be fair, though, it may have been a similar kind of game for the Avalanche, because the game, which saw the Oilers walk out with a 4-3 victory, had all the feel of an early June playoff game, not just any mid-March game.<\/p>\n The feisty affair, which saw Oilers winger Trent Frederic drop Avalanche centre Nic Roy in a first-period scrap<\/a>, escalated with 35 seconds left in the second period when Nathan MacKinnon rolled a 10-pin strike, bowling over Connor Ingram. It would wind up with Ingram leaking from his forehead like a WWE wrestler who just bladed himself, while a lengthy review would end the Avalanche superstars\u2019 night early, taking a five-minute major penalty in the process.<\/p>\n Nathan MacKinnon steamrolls Connor Ingram, who gets shaken up with a cut on the top of his head \ud83e\ude78<\/p>\n Fortunately, Ingram got up on his own, ugly scene. <\/p>\n \ud83d\udcf9: Sportsnet <\/p>\n The Oilers had already built themselves a steady lead at the time. While Ross Colton opened the scoring for the Avalanche 32 seconds into the game, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would score on the power play just over eight minutes into the first frame.<\/p>\n We’re not even a minute in, and the Oilers are already trailing against the Avs.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcf9: Sportsnet <\/p>\n RYAN NUGENT-HOPKINS GOES BAR DOWN!<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcf9: Sportsnet <\/p>\n The two teams would trade another pair of goals later in the first period. Martin Necas would score after a rebound popped out to him with just over four minutes left in the period. Jack Roslovic, however, would get one back with 25 seconds left in the first, after Leon Draisaitl found him alone in front of the net, saucing a beautiful backhand no-look pass only he could make.<\/p>\n Ingram saves the initial shot, but the puck rebounds to Necas, who puts it away, 2-1 Avalanche. <\/p>\n \ud83d\udcf9: Sportsnet <\/p>\n DRAISAITL FINDS ROSLOVIC ALL ALONE IN FRONT, AND HE BURIES IT, 2-2 GAME HEADING INTO SECOND!<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcf9: Sportsnet <\/p>\n Four minutes into the second, Nugent-Hopkins would score his second of the game after planting himself in front of the Avalanche net.<\/p>\n NUGENT-HOPKINS WITH HIS SECOND!<\/p>\n And the Edmonton Oilers lead 3-2 against the Avalanche!<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcf9: Sportsnet <\/p>\n That\u2019s what brought the score to 3-2 in favour of Edmonton when they got their power play from MacKinnon\u2019s major, which had been limited to just under four minutes thanks to a Connor Murphy penalty the Oilers were already killing off.<\/p>\n Edmonton wasn\u2019t able to capitalize early in the third period, but they were standing tall with a powerhouse Avalanche team. They would punch back, however, as Valeri Nichushkin would deflect home a Sam Malinski shot-pass from the point, that would go upstairs on Tristan Jarry.<\/p>\n Connor McDavid, already sitting on an assist in the game setting up Nugent-Hopkins\u2019 first of the game, would get in the goal column himself to regain Edmonton\u2019s lead nine minutes into the third. It was a beautiful give-and-go between him and Draisaitl, as McDavid would get right in front of the net to go upstairs on Mackenzie Blackwood, scoring what would be the game-winner.<\/p>\n Valeri Nichushkin ties the game, 3-3.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcf9: Sportsnet <\/p>\n The Edmonton Oilers are moving the puck BEAUTIFULLY on the power play with Connor McDavid finishing a give-and-go with Draisaitl. <\/p>\n \ud83d\udcf9: Sportsnet <\/p>\n Edmonton now sits 2-0 on their key four-game road trip this week, having beaten the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Sunday night. The Oilers now head<\/a> to Dallas to visit the Stars Thursday night, before closing it Friday with a visit to the St. Louis Blues.News and notes\u2026MacKinnon and Ingram weren\u2019t the only players who would leave the game. Oilers forward Colton Dach left the game<\/a> in the first period after an awkward hit on Avs defenceman Josh Manson. Defenceman Ty Emberson would leave the game in the first period, too, after laying a pair of hits in the first period and taking one in the same frame.Ingram had the Oilers in a good spot by the time he left the game, but Jarry was nothing short of spectacular. He was forced into an awkward spot without much time left in the second, and had to make a couple of quick saves early on. He would stop 11 of 12 shots for a .917 save percentage on the night.The Oilers\u2019 big guns were on for this game. While Nuge had a pair of goals on a pair of shots, Draisaitl ended the night with two assists and six shots, McDavid had a goal, an assist and five shots, while Evan Bouchard had two assists and four shots. This was the kind of game they needed to step up in, and they did in a big way.For those wondering what led to Frederic\u2019s fight, one has to wonder if it was in part due to Nic Roy cross-checking Frederic in the face<\/a> during last year\u2019s playoffs.Zach Laing is Oilersnation\u2019s managing editor, and The Nation Network\u2019s news director. He also makes up one-half of the Daily Faceoff DFS Hockey Report<\/a>. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing<\/a>, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.<\/p>\n ARTICLE PRESENTED BY bet365<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MacKinnon ejected, many hurt as Oilers halt Avalanche in 4-3 win: Recap, Reaction and Highlights After all, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-528716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}