Avalanche Game 68 Recap: Oops, He Did It Again!

My birthday is on March 18, but for the first time in four years, the Colorado Avalanche do not play on that day. With this game landing just two days before that date, this serves as an early birthday game for yours truly, and our opponents: none other than the Edmonton Oilers. Let me say this. I've scoffed at a lot of things regarding the Avalanche's schedule. Our first three games being on the road, that's fine. Even the fact that we've played more games than a lot of other temas in the league is no biggie. However, the fact that I had to wait until Game 68 to see us finally face the Oilers? I'm sorry, I just can't forgive that.

Ever since that Western Conference Final two years ago, I look forward to every game between the Avalanche and Oilers. It's more than just Nathan MacKinnon vs Connor McDavid. It's a chance to remind the Oilers and their fans that...well...we own them.

The goalie matchup was Alexandar Georgiev vs Stuart Skinner, and it was your typical Avs/Oilers game from the get go. Chances from both sides, especially from you-know-who with the Oilers. Edmonton took the shots lead as the period progressed, but the Avs would get the game's first power play. Killed off, no official shots on net. It was after this point that I noticed that McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were out there together at even strength! Holy moley! Despite all of the madness, no goals were scored in the first period.

Early in the second period, the Oilers went on the power play, and it was killed off. Georgiev and Skinner were brick walls, stopping every chance left and right. Finally, something gave at 10:39, and it was Sean Walker scoring his first goal with the Avs to make it 1-0. The 1-0 score held up for the rest of the period, and in the third period, Zach Hyman tied it up...or so he thought. A quick replay showed that Hyman kicked it in, so the 1-0 score remained. The Oilers continued to press, and they tied it up for real this time--Warren Foegele from Evan Bouchard. At that point, this game was starting to remind me of a Saturday meeting that took place two years prior, which also saw Foegele score for the Oilers. So I figured 1-1 would hold up the rest of the way, and then Sam Carrick made it 2-1 for Edmonton. Avs wasted no time pressing for the tie, and we got it. Sean Walker struck again; his first two-goal game of his career. So it's 2-2, and it felt like overtime already. Oilers avoided committing Delay of Game in the final 13 seconds, and after those ticks ran out, we officially had overtime.

Avs and overtime have been a thing lately, as this was the third time in our last four games that we would have to play more than 60 minutes. We've been winning a lot in OT lately (news that make Bruins and Islanders fans jealous), and overtime started with the Avs having chances, but just then, the puck gets to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and he breaks away. Georgiev stops him, but after that, the chaos we saw in regulation continued in this overtime. You-know-who was out there with the puck for Edmonton, but we managed to keep him at bay as the period went by. McDavid had it again very late, but he fell, and we ended up with it. Even so, there was about 10 seconds left, and I was preparing for the shootout. The puck did get to MacKinnon, but even so, there were four seconds left. The shootout was inevitable. Then, MacKinnon gets the puck to Artturi Lehkonen, and...he puts it in!!!

My goodness. Artturi Lehkonen made Oilers fans cry yet again.

It's like that West Final never ended, but it was ended by the same player who ended this game. This, ladies and gentlemen, is why we traded for Lehkonen two trade deadlines ago, and also why we paid him the big bucks after that Cup win. Had one Cup Semifinal clinching OT goal with the Canadiens in 2021. Scored another with the Avs in 2022. Scored the Cup clinching goal in Game 6 vs Tampa Bay. I predicted that Lehkonen would win it in OT because of his past, and there it was, 4:59.5 into overtime. Wow, just wow!

The Avalanche returned to first place in the Central Division with this win, which came after the Dallas Stars won over the Los Angeles Kings. In addition, with the Vancouver Canucks' regulation loss, the Avs are now one point behind Vancouver for the overall top spot in the Western Conference, and are six wins away from a playoff spot. Speaking of six, that's our current winning streak, including three-for-three in this road trip, which will end in St. Louis on Tuesday.

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