EDMONTON, Alberta – The Colorado Avalanche swept Edmonton from the Western Conference Finals in game 4 Monday, beating the Oilers 6-5 in overtime to win the series to the best of seven by 4-0.
Colorado is now advancing to the Stanley Cup final, where it will face the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Rangers. New York leads this series 2-1. It will be Avalanche’s first appearance in the final round since 2001.
Edmonton had their chances to stay alive in Game 4, missing out on two multi-goal advantages. The Oilers advanced 4-2 in the middle of the third period, only to allow three directs to the Avalanche striker. Zack Kassian tied the game 5-5 at the end of regulation to force overtime, where Artturi Lehkonen ended Edmonton’s hopes of a possible Cup final bid with the winning goal.
It was Colorado who first scored a power goal from Cale Makar. It was Makar’s fifth goal of the postseason and the first of five points in the fourth game.
The match remained 1-0 until the middle of the second. Edmonton were outscored 21-12 at the time, as goalkeeper Mike Smith kept the Oilers back in the early game.
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Finally, Zach Hyman capitalized during a strong push by the Oilers at the end of Colorado, beating Colorado goalkeeper Pavel Francouz to bring Edmonton to life.
The Oilers scored two quickly after that, first when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins swayed over a Colorado turnover and then with Connor McDavid’s power-play score.
Leon Draisaitl saw McDavid’s goal even though he seemed to suffer an injury early in the second. The first team of the Oilers has not been nearly 100% healthy in the postseason, and worked on the bench in agony after a blow at the end of the second period. Draisaitl refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon before adding to his assistant. And it didn’t end there.
Draisaitl generated another assist in the second goal of Hyman, this one in the third period. Edmonton had started that box ahead 3-1, until Devon Toews scored 31 seconds to make it 3-2. The Oilers held on and Draisaitl fed Hyman to quickly regain Edmonton’s two-goal lead.
Colorado fell 4-2, but it wouldn’t be by much. In the middle of the third, Smith’s clean-up attempt hit a referee and he stayed in the Oilers’ area to set up a quick Gabriel Landeskog score.
Then, after another unsuccessful power play by the Oilers, Nathan MacKinnon jumped into the play and fired the equalizer ahead of Smith to make it 4-4 with six minutes to play in regulation.
Mikko Rantanen put Colorado ahead 5-4 with a power goal right after. Edmonton responded with McDavid and Draisaitl combining to score Kassian’s equalizer after that. Draisaitl finished with four points, and McDavid with three.
Lehkonen needed just 1:19 in extra time to score the winner of the match, culminating his three-point night.
The Avalanche has played the Cup twice in its franchise history, winning both series. In 1996, they defeated the Florida Panthers. In 2001, they outscored the New Jersey Devils.