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Avs Beat Oilers in SO
The Colorado Avalanche looked to bounce back from a loss in Nashville, taking on the Edmonton Oilers in an afternoon affair at Pepsi Center.
The first period largely favored the Oilers and saw Edmonton open up the scoring on a last minute goal put home by ex-Avalanche player Ryan Smyth from right in front of the net. It didn’t help that Paul Stastny tried a bit too hard to get back into the play and ran into goalie Semyon Varlamov.
The Avalanche came out with much more energy in the second period and were rewarded for their work. Cody McLeod got his team on the board off a great feed from behind the net from Ryan Wilson. Peter Mueller also helped the Avs stay on top in after Milan Hejduk made a fantastic move that left Nikolai Khabibulin sprawled on the ice with absolutely no chance.
The Avalanche came out far too passive in the third period and allowed the Oilers to come at them while trying to just ice their way to a victory. Taylor Hall put in the tying goal with about five minutes left and sent the game into overtime, despite the Oil having been robbed on a no goal call earlier in the frame.
Bonus hockey was wide open and exciting and Varlamov made a couple of fantastic saves to keep the Avalanche alive in the game, forcing the shootout.
Varly stopped both shots he faced in the skills competition, and both Hejduk and Mueller tallied goals, giving the Avalanche two desperately needed points as they fight for the 8th seed in the playoffs.
What do you think?
