The Colorado Avalanche got a sniff of a comeback in the third period of Friday night's game versus the Edmonton Oilers, but that fire was quickly extinguished. With the Oilers up 2-0, Avs center Ryan O' Reilly brought Colorado to within a goal, after he netted his first score of the season on a power play at 5:42. But just 17 seconds later, Edmonton center Shawn Horcoff put the puck past Avs goalie Semyon Varlamov to extend their lead back to two goals, and they wouldn't look back from there.
With the win, Edmonton unchains themselves from a tie with the Avalanche for first place in the Northwest Division, which they'll sit atop at 14 points. The Avalanche remains winless at home, but they'll have two more chances to wipe that away— on Sunday versus Los Angeles and Wednesday versus Phoenix— before they head back out on the road. But before they look ahead to their next few match ups, they'll certainly be kicking themselves over losing a game where they put 22 more shots on net than their opponents.
For more coverage, visit our Avalanche blog Mile High Hockey or our Oilers Blog Copper And Blue.