GAME RECAP: Avalanche 5, Oilers 4

EDMONTON, AB – Forwards Leon Draisaitl and Corey Perry each scored twice, but the Edmonton Oilers were narrowly beaten by the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night, losing 5-4 at Rogers Place in a thrilling finale before the start of the 4 Nations Face-Off break.

"Over the course of the season, you're going to have those ups and downs, and they capitalized on our mistakes," Perry said. "They're a pretty good hockey team over there. They got some pretty good players, so when you make a mistake, it's tough to regroup in this league and make up for it because teams pounce on those pretty quick."

The Avalanche received terrific performances from Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, who had four and three points respectively in the win. The dagger from Martin Necas with 4:22 remaining in the third period served as the breaking point in a highly-skilled contest that included seven players who'll compete in the 4 Nations Face-Off, which begins on Feb. 12 at Bell Centre in Montreal.

The NHL's leading point-getter in MacKinnon had a goal and three assists in a duel against the League's leading goalscorer in Draisaitl, who scored one at the power play in the first period and again at even strength in the middle frame to reach 40 goals, including the tying goal that made it 4-4 heading into the third.

MacKinnon set up the game-winner to seal the Avalanche victory by finding Necas on the second attempt following a two-on-one late in regulation.

Makar had two goals and an assist, while winger Artturi Lehkonen had a goal and an assist for Colorado, who won their third straight game. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also had two helpers for the Oilers, who had their mini two-game win streak snapped heading into the two-week break.

"We're preparing the same way. We're looking to play a tight game. That's our identity," Draisaitl said. "So it's not going to change. But obviously, we didn't do that today. Too much offence given and it's just not a great loss for us."

The Oilers will head out on the road for a lengthy five-game Eastern road trip when they return to action on Feb. 22 in Philadelphia before they play their first home game over a month from now on Mar. 4 against Anaheim.

FIRST PERIOD

An instant classic between the League's top two scorers and two of its most dynamic teams was certainly brewing after the opening 20 minutes.

It was advantage Nathan MacKinnon and the Avalanche at the end of the first period after the NHL's leading points man propelled the visitors to a 3-2 lead at the intermission with a goal and two assists, but Leon Draisaitl and Oilers looked prepared to match them shot for shot with two quick responses.

Half a minute into the game's opening power play with Zach Hyman in the box for hooking, MacKinnon opened the scoring for Colorado by shooting through the wickets of defenceman Ty Emberson and Stuart Skinner's five-hole from the top of the left circle, marking his 21st goal of the season.

MacKinnon began tonight's game two points ahead of Draisaitl with 83, but the German wasn't going to let him take the entire spotlight on Friday night after he answered back on Edmonton's own opening man advantage that arrived less than a minute later.

Only six seconds after the draw following Artturi Lehkonen's slashing penalty against Darnell Nurse, No. 29 for the Oilers would win the draw and open up in the slot for a one-timer set up by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins before rifling his league-leading 39th goal of the campaign under the bar.

You can't forget about Cale Makar, either, who started the night four points away from becoming the fourth-fastest defenceman to reach 400 and gave himself two on the night when his wrist shot from the right circle on the second phase of Colorado's zone entry caught a piece of Stuart Skinner's glove on the way into the back of the net, restoring the lead for the Avalanche lead at 2-1 just over a minute after Draisaitl answered back.

Continuing the trend of quick responses by the Blue & Orange, it took veteran Corey Perry only 36 seconds to make it 2-2 when he corralled his own rebound from delivering a shot from the slot and flipped a backhand under the crossbar behind netminder Mackenzie Blackwood.

SECOND PERIOD

These two teams are simply incapable of playing a boring, defence-focused hockey game.

So is Leon Draisatil when it comes to goalscoring.

"He's got a knack for it and continues to find ways," Perry said. "He's one of the best in the world for a reason, and he shows it each and every night."

A middle frame filled with penalties and a trio of tallies saw the Oilers and Avalanche combine for eight goals and nine total minor penalties through 40 minutes on Friday night as both sides looked to stay strong heading into the two-week layoff for their teams from regular-season action.

One of the players who won't be enjoying a break alongside Devon Toews, MacKinnon and McDavid on Team Canada is Makar, who gave Colorado their first multi-goal lead of the game with his second goal of the night that came shorthanded 6:39 into the period.

Evan Bouchard turned the puck over on the man advantage to Parker Kelly while trying to drop the puck to McDavid in the neutral zone, leading to the centre sliding it over to Makar to go under the gloves against netminder Calvin Pickard under the glove, who started the second period for the Oilers after Skinner conceded three goals on 12 shots in the opening frame.

"It's happened to everybody at a certain point in their career. It's going to happen," Perry said. "You use it as motivation to the right things, put it behind you and move forward. It's only going to make you better."

The Oilers came back with their second-unit power play, and it would once again be Perry who'd quickly answer back for his side, attacking the front of the net from below the goal line and trying to shovel one through the five-hole of Blackwood before it inevitably found its way through off the skate of defenceman Samuel Girard.

Perry’s 12th goal of the campaign marked the 63rd two-goal game of his incredible career, and his first as a member of the Oilers that increased his total over the past nine games to six goals and an assist while he shows no signs of letting up at 39 years old.

"He's a living legend in the game, right? He's going to be a Hall of Famer and we're very fortunate that we have him," Draisaitl said. "In a lot of ways, he's just a really high IQ, really good hockey player still."

You could definitely tell for of the NHL's best players in McDavid, Draisaitl, MacKinnon and Makar were playing on Friday, and the League's leading goalscorer turned its top points man into a pylon with 4:01 on the clock in the middle frame to tie the game at 4-4 and reach the mark of 40 goals with an incredible second effort.

Draisaitl turned MacKinnon inside out at the hashmarks with one of his signature cut-back dangles and then fired a low shot on goal that was kicked out by Blackwood, but the German superstar didn't give up on the play before chipping the rebound top shelf from his knees for a terrific equalizer and one of his best goals of the campaign – and there have been plenty from the Deutschland Dangler.

Draisaitl reached the mark of 40 goals in only 55, games, becoming the seventh Oiler to achieve the feat in that many games or less, and is the fourth active player in the NHL to record 40-plus goals in at least six seasons – joining Alex Ovechkin (13) and Steven Stamkos (7), and tying Auston Matthews (6).

THIRD PERIOD

What a gutting way to conclude an incredible hockey game.

The Oilers had a five-on-three situation to kill off just under six minutes into the final frame, seeing their short-handed unit come up with critical blocks from Ty Emberson and Mattias Ekholm, Calvin Pickard taking a shot high off the mask, and Brett Kulak making a vital interception at the back post that allowed the Oilers to escape a major jam in the first half of the period.

But with over four minutes left in regulation, the Avalanche capitalized on a break.

"The goals that we gave up early in the game, we were able to respond, but I think we had every opportunity to win that game after that five-on-three kill," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "We had some great scoring chances going the other way. We didn't capitalize on those, and then they had some good chances shortly after that that they did capitalize on."

A tipped pass from Zach Hyman escaped the Avalanche zone and sent them in on a two-on-one through MacKinnon and Joel Kiviranta that saw Pickard make the all-important save before Colorado's captain picked up the loose puck.

Hyman and Klingberg had Kiviranta marked in the blue paint while Ekholm marked MacKinnon, but the trio of Oilers didn't tack the incoming Martin Necas, who took a wide-open pass from MacKinnon and buried it past the right skate of Pickard to bury the dagger and make it 5-4 with 4:22 left in the third period.

"They're probably the most dangerous team off the rush and we kept feeding that transition," Hyman said. "I take responsibility for the last one trying to force it in to make a play. Probably not the right time to do that against that line, and they go and capitalize on it and we lose the game. So it's not fun when that happens."

The Oilers pulled their goalie for the extra attacker, but were unable to dig the puck out of a full scrum in the left corner, leading to the Avalanche running out time to earn the two points in an exciting finale at Rogers Place before the start of the 4 Nations Face-Off break.