EDMONTON, ALBERTA — The Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers produce brilliant hockey games when they face each other.
Colorado showed Friday night that it can throw haymakers with arguably the best roster in the NHL. Now the Avs have 25 games to make sure they don’t need to see Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and friends until the second half of the NHL’s playoff tournament.
Nathan MacKinnon had a four-point night, and Cale Makar scored twice to help the Avs win a wild one, 5-4, at Rogers Place. MacKinnon set up Martin Necas for the game-winner with 4:22 remaining after Colorado had blown an earlier two-goal lead.
“Obviously you don’t want to play a track meet against these guys, but sometimes it just ends up like that,” Makar said. “You just have to find ways to produce on both sides. They’re weird games. I don’t know if fun is the right word — hopefully fun for fans.”
If the Stanley Cup Playoffs began Friday, this would have been Game 1 of an opening-round matchup, because the Avalanche sit in the first wild-card spot.
Getting Dallas or Minnesota in the first round wouldn’t be a walk in the park, but Colorado needs to move up in the Central Division standings after the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off break to avoid a titanic first-round bout with either Edmonton or Winnipeg.
“I think we can even over-respect these guys sometimes,” MacKinnon said. “They’re just so good. That game at home in Denver, they dominated us.
“It’s a tough game against these guys. I’m sure they’ll say they weren’t at their best, but we were on a back-to-back. It’s an awesome win.”
Colorado claimed a two-goal lead and looked in control after Makar scored shorthanded at 6:39 of the second period. Parker Kelly picked off a drop pass with Edmonton on the power play, then fed Makar for his second goal of the night.
It was Makar’s 22nd of the season, which is five clear of the next defenseman, Columbus’ Zach Werenski. The Avs have 25 games left after the 4 Nations break. Makar has a chance to be the first defenseman to score 30 goals in a season since Mike Green did it for Washington in 2007-08.
For the third time in this contest, Edmonton answered immediately. Corey Perry scored his second of the night 71 seconds later with the Oilers still on the power play to make it 4-3.
Draisaitl scored his second of the evening and 40th of the season to even the score with 4:01 remaining in the second. Draisaitl picked off a pass from MacKinnon at one end of the ice, then scored on the rebound of his own shot after falling to his knees at the other end.
“We were resilient tonight,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “It wasn’t an easy game for us at times. We weren’t perfect, but you’ve got to try and carve out some results when you’re not at your best.”
For the second straight game, MacKinnon had a three-point period. This one helped the Avalanche grab a 3-2 lead after an electric 10 minutes of hockey in the second half of the opening period.
MacKinnon put the Avs in front with 10:12 remaining. He collected a pass from Cale Makar and snapped a shot through the legs of Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner on the power play. It was his 21st goal of the year.
Edmonton responded 33 seconds later with an extra-man goal of its own. Draisaitl won the faceoff, then scored on a one-timer just six seconds into the Oilers’ power play for his league-leading 39th goal of the season.
Makar pushed Colorado back in front at 11:46 of the period. MacKinnon set him up for a shot on the rush that Skinner just whiffed on with his glove. There were audible groans from the Oil faithful after the replay on the scoreboard.
The Oilers quickly responded, again. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped Perry’s first shot, but he had plenty of time to collect the rebound and roof a backhanded try just 36 seconds after Makar’s goal.
That flurry included a quartet of goals in 2:34.
Artturi Lehkonen made it a 3-2 lead for the visitors with 1:52 left in the period with a ruthless counter-attack goal. Devon Toews caught the puck out of the air near his own blue line then quickly sent it ahead to MacKinnon while the Oilers were trying to change. The reigning MVP found Lehkonen cutting to the net for a one-timer and his 23rd tally of the season.
MacKinnon’s four-point night doubled up Draisaitl’s effort, expanding his lead in the NHL scoring race to four points at the break (87-83).
“You need your big guys to be at their best, sort of carrying the load,” Bednar said. “You’re hoping to get the secondary support you need, but when you’re coming in on a back-to-back and there is a lot of special teams, they have a bigger role to play. And they stepped up tonight.”
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