Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a goal and had an assist, while Brett Kulak, Kasperi Kapanen, and Vasily Podkolzin also scored to help the Edmonton Oilers beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 in Denver on Saturday night.
Stuart Skinner made 27 saves for Edmonton, who won their third consecutive game.
Nikolai Kovalenko scored for Colorado, and Alexandar Georgiev stopped 28 shots. The Avalanche has lost three out of their last four games.
Earlier in the day, Colorado made a change in their goaltending, acquiring Scott Wedgewood from the Nashville Predators in exchange for goalie Justus Annunen and a 2025 sixth-round pick. Wedgewood arrived in Denver on time to serve as Georgiev’s backup. The Avalanche also announced that forward Miles Wood will be out for a “significant amount of time” due to an upper-body injury.
Despite the changes, Colorado took the lead early in the game with a power-play goal. Artturi Lehkonen passed to Kovalenko, who scored with a one-timer at 7:02 of the first period for his fourth goal of the season.
Edmonton responded quickly when Connor McDavid made a pass across the crease to Kapanen, who scored into an open net at 11:48. It was Kapanen’s second goal of the season.
The game stayed tied until late in the second period when Podkolzin deflected Troy Stecher’s shot from the point at 13:48, scoring his third goal of the season.
Colorado had several opportunities to score early in the third period, but it was the Oilers who scored next. They passed the puck around in the Avalanche zone, and Kulak’s shot from the left point found its way past Georgiev at 3:56. It was his fifth goal of the season.
With Georgiev pulled for an extra skater, Nugent-Hopkins scored into the empty net at 18:28 for his fourth goal of the season.
