EDMONTON, Alberta – Taylor Hall scored in the third period to give Edmonton a two-goal cushion and the Oilers beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Jordan Eberle and Eric Belanger also scored for the Oilers, who are 2-0-1 in their last three games after losing eight of nine. Devan Dubnyk made 31 saves.
Peter Mueller and Gabriel Landeskog had goals for the Avalanche, who have lost three in a row and fallen out of playoff position.
Edmonton came close to scoring 3 minutes in when Ben Eager sprung Anton Lander on a breakaway. Lander had Colorado goalie Semyon Varlamov beat with a backhand that hit the post and rattled out of harm's way.
Just 2 minutes later the Oilers went ahead as Eberle swung around from behind the net and used his second whack to stuff the puck between the post and Varlamov's skate. AHL call-up Philippe Cornet earned an assist on the second shift of his NHL debut.
Edmonton kept the pressure coming with 5 minutes left in the opening frame when Ales Hemsky had the Colorado netminder beat but hit the team's second post of the night.
The Oilers made it 2-0 on the power play with just over 2 minutes remaining in the first when Belanger blasted home his second of the season from the top of the circle.
Colorado had its best chance to that point seconds later when Chuck Kobasew almost had a short-handed break on the second half of a double-minor penalty, but Dubnyk hustled out of the net to poke-check the puck away.
The Avalanche made it a 2-1 game just over a minute into the second period when Kobasew through the puck through the crease and Mueller was able to whack in his fourth of the season.
Two minutes later it was Edmonton's turn to be saved by a post when Ryan O'Bryne unleashed a point shot that had Dubnyk beat but rattled soundly off the cage.
The Oilers regained their two-goal advantage 6 minutes into the third when Varlamov allowed a big rebound on Hemsky's shot and Hall was there to shovel in his 17th of the season.
Colorado cut the lead to 3-2 midway through the third when Dubnyk was able to make a stop on Milan Hejduk's backhander but couldn't get back in position to stop Landeskog, who was left pretty much alone in front of the net, from lifting in the rebound.
Dubnyk came up with a huge glove save to rob Ryan O'Reilly at the side of the net with 2 minutes to play to preserve the win.
Notes: Edmonton has won three of four meetings between the teams this season. ... Colorado is tied for the most games played this season with Carolina. ... Eager returned from injury, one game after veteran defenseman Ryan Whitney rejoined the team. Rookie phenom Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and defensemen Tom Gilbert and Cam Barker have all resumed skating and could be back within a week. ... Eberle's goal was his 19th of the season. He had 18 as a rookie last season. ... Colorado's Matt Duchene (knee) remains out indefinitely.
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