It was billed as a match-up of Stanley Cup contenders and Hart Trophy candidates at Rogers Place on Saturday (March 16), and in both cases, the host came up short, as Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche beat Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers 3-2.
Colorado’s Artturi Lehkonen scored the winning goal with just one second remaining in overtime, while defenceman Sean Walker scored two goals for the Avalanche. Edmonton got a goal each from Sam Carrick and Warren Foegele in a wildly entertaining game played at an incredible pace.
Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner and Alexandar Georgiev of the Avalanche both had terrific outings between the pipes, making 40 and 32 saves, respectively. The game was scoreless after the first period before Colorado took a 1-0 lead into the second intermission.
Oilers Let up in Overtime
On Saturday, less than eight seconds remained in overtime when Avalanche defenceman Cale Makar attempted to spring one last rush with a pass from inside his blue line.
The puck went off MacKinnon’s stick, who chased it down in the corner to the left of Skinner. The Avalanche star then made a backhand pass to the front of the net, where a streaking Lehkonen put the puck behind Skinner at 4:59 of overtime.
Credit to the Avs, who played to the horn while the Oilers were already thinking shootout: Edmonton defenceman Evan Bouchard let up on MacKinnon in the corner, while forward Leon Draisaitl made a half-hearted effort on the backcheck and was beaten to the front of the net by Lehkonen.
MacKinnon Has Edge Over McDavid
Neither MacKinnon nor McDavid had standout performances on Saturday, with both MVP contenders going pointless in regulation. But with an opportunity to be seized in overtime, MacKinnon rose to the occasion, making a heads-up play and a beautiful pass on the winning goal.
MacKinnon finished the game with one point, six shots on goal, and a plus/minus rating of one. McDavid had zero points, five shots, and a minus-two rating. Most importantly, MacKinnon’s team got two points to one for McDavid’s squad.
This won’t be a popular take in Oil Country, but MacKinnon should now be considered front-runner in the Hart Trophy race. The Avalanche forward has 10 more points (116 to 106) than McDavid, his team has seven more points (91 to 84) than the Oilers, and he’s ahead 1-0 head-to-head.
Related: McDavid Piles up Assists but Oilers Need Their Star to Score More
The elephant in the room remains McDavid’s dramatically reduced goal output. He’s got 25 goals with 17 games remaining on Edmonton’s schedule, putting him on pace to score around 32 this season, which would be exactly half of his goal total from 2022-23.
Hyman’s Historic Goal Called Back
Edmonton forward Zach Hyman came into the game with goals in 10 consecutive home games, tied with Wayne Gretzky for the longest such streak in Oilers history.
Hyman appeared to set a new franchise record when he scored just 2:05 into the third period, but the goal was called back after it was ruled the Oilers forward had kicked the puck into the net. Upon replay, the evidence was pretty much irrefutable.
Some history was made on Saturday, however: Carrick’s goal was his first as an Oiler, and an assist went to Corey Perry, who recorded his 900th career NHL point.
Oilers Can’t Solve Avs
While the games are almost always close, Colorado has had incredible success against the Oilers over the last two years, going 5-1-1 in the regular season and sweeping the 2022 Western Conference Final.
Including the playoffs, this was the fifth straight game between Colorado and Edmonton to go to overtime. Six of the last seven regular-season meetings between the Avalanche and Oilers have been tied at the end of regulation.
Edmonton will get two more cracks at the Avalanche this season. The teams are scheduled to play twice next month, at Rogers Place again on April 5 and in Denver on the last night of the regular season, April 18. Meanwhile, next for the Oilers is a home game against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday (March 19).