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 The Avs posted a 4-1 victory over the 28th-place Oilers to secure
two very crucial points in their quest for home ice advantage in the
opening round of the playoffs.
The Avs led 2-1 after 40 minutes and couldn't pull away until midway
through the third period when defenseman Tyson Barrie and left
winger Jamie McGinn scored to make it 4-1.
But they pulled away, and that's all that mattered.
"It's always tough against a team like this with lots of speed," Avs
center Paul Stastny said. "I think we kind of get out of our comfort
zone and play a run-and-gun game here. This time we played a simple
game. It was solid top to bottom and I think it was one of our
better performances."
The Avs are trying to walk the fine line between staying healthy and
rested for the playoffs and trying to make sure they set themselves
up for Round 1.
They are second in the Central Division, two points behind
first-place St. Louis and four points ahead of third-place Chicago.
Finishing first means drawing a wild-card opponent in the first
round while second place means home ice advantage against third
place in the first round.
"I think we just want to keep winning," Stastny said. "We want to
get home ice. Whether we catch St. Louis or not, we just want to
keep moving forward.
"If Chicago wins again, we have to win again to guarantee home ice
for at least one round. But we're not looking that far ahead; we're
just looking at the next game. We just have to keep playing well."
Like they did on Tuesday.
"We played the type of game that we need to play in the playoffs,"
Colorado goalie JS Giguere said. "It didn't matter that we were
playing a team that is out of it. We stuck to our game, and I was
really impressed with the way we played; it's a really good time for
our team."
The lowly Oilers might be playing out the string, but they're
playing it hard. After beating Anaheim and Phoenix in their last two
games and pushing the Ducks and Sharks to the brink in a pair of
stirring one-goal battles on the road, they were hoping to make it
three upsets in a row. But they couldn't match Colorado's speed and
determination.
"We're disappointed that we didn't get the win or play a better
game. We weren't sharp tonight," defenseman Jeff Petry said. "We
played a pretty good stretch of games here and this one kind of
hurts a little bit because we didn't play the way we have been
playing.
"It was a small step backwards tonight. We weren't sharp."
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Edmonton gave up an early goal for the second game in a row when the
Oilers let Stastny take about four whacks at a puck at the side of
goalie Ben Scrivens' net to make it 1-0 at 4:13.
The Oilers tied, however briefly, when left winger David Perron
banked a centering pass off a Colorado skate for his 28th score of
the season, at 16:58.
Just 12 seconds later, Avs defenseman Erik Johnson skated past three
Oilers and scored from close range to make it 2-1 at the first
intermission.
"That's a huge boot in the you-know-what," Oilers coach Dallas
Eakins said. "You get a huge goal and it livens your bench. I'm
thinking, 'That's got us focused in; we're good now.' Then they
barely drop the puck and it's in your net.
"But even still, you're in the game after two, but we just couldn't
find it."
After a scoreless second period, Barrie gave his team a little
insurance with a wrist shot into the top corner at 7:34. McGinn
rounded out the scoring at 16:19.
"We were a little flat," Oilers left wing Ryan Smyth said. "There
were moments in the game where we were thinking, 'OK, we can get
ourselves back into it.' But give them a lot of credit; they're a
team that works hard. We just weren't able to get momentum."
NOTES: Oilers RW Ryan Jones, asked where he would be playing next
year, said, simply: "Not here." ... Edmonton LW Luke Gazdic recently
underwent season-ending shoulder surgery. He expects a six-month
recovery period. ... Tuesday's contest was the opener of Colorado's
season-ending, four-game road trip. ... The Avalanche are still
banged up, with C Matt Duchene and RW P.A. Parenteau both out for
the foreseeable future due to knee injuries. ... Colorado G Semyon
Varlamov was named the NHL's second star of the week after going
3-0-1 with a 1.42 goals-against average. Edmonton LW Taylor Hall was
the first star, compiling two goals and seven assists in four games.
... Colorado was minus D Cory Sarich and LW Cody McLeod, both out
with lower body injuries.
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