EDMONTON, Alberta — The commitment to its “next-man-up” philosophy helped the Avalanche get within a victory of advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals here Saturday night.
J.T. Compher replaced the injured Nazem Kadri as Colorado’s second-line center and came through with the most important goal of Game 3 against Edmonton in the Western Conference finals at Rogers Place.
Compher jumped out of the penalty box, won a puck battle on the Oilers’ blue line, and wristed a shot past goalie Mike Smith to break a 2-2 tie with 7:18 remaining in the third period. Mikko Rantanen added an empty-net goal in the final minute for a 4-2 victory and a 3-0 series lead.
“Definitely a roller coaster — not a good time to take a penalty,” Compher said of his tripping minor. “But the penalty kill did a great job … It all worked out.”
Colorado improved to 6-0 on the road in the playoffs, the first team since the 2011 Kings to win its first six road playoff games. Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is Monday night. An Avs victory will send them to their first Stanley Cup Final since last winning it all in 2002.
But they move on without Kadri, the victim of a vicious hit from behind.
“He’s out. He’ll be out for the series at least, if not longer,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said of Kadri. “The hit — it’s the most dangerous play in hockey. He puts him in (the wall) headfirst from behind, eight feet off the boards. I’ll leave it at that.”
Compher’s big goal was his fifth in his last five games after he failed to score in his first nine games of the postseason. And it came a minute after goalie Pavel Francouz stoned Edmonton superstar center Connor McDavid with a diving glove save on the power play.
The Avalanche lost Kadri early in the first period to an upper-body injury when he was checked from behind into the boards in the defensive-end corner by Oilers winger Evander Kane. It came on the first shift after McDavid gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead on his first shift and resulted in Kane’s five-minute boarding major.
“I definitely did not like the hit,” said the Avs’ Gabe Landeskog. “It doesn’t look good and those are the scary ones you never like to see.”
The Avs failed to capitalize on the power play.
Valeri Nichushkin scored twice for the Avs, with his second goal giving Colorado a 2-1 lead 4:37 into the second period. His shot from the right circle fooled Smith because the puck skipped off the leg of Edmonton defenseman Evan Bouchard and changed direction.
Edmonton forward Ryan McLeod tied the score 2-2 with a long wrist shot midway through the third period.
“The guys did a good job of resetting after they tied it up,” Landeskog said.
The game was tied 1-1 after the first period during which the Avs failed to convert during seven minutes of the man-advantage but got a fluky goal from Nichushkin late in the frame. Nichushkin’s pass/shot towards the net caromed off the stick of defenseman Darnell Nurse and behind Smith.
After Kadri skated off and walked to the dressing room, Edmonton killed off Kane’s boarding major and then a delay-of-game minor against Nurse. Smith was the difference in the first period, making several outstanding saves to keep the Oilers ahead 1-0 until Nichushkin’s fortunate bounce.
Edmonton gained its lead on the first shift of the game when McDavid took a short pass from Zach Hyman near the left wall and snapped a low shot past Francouz.
Avs’ star defenseman Cale Makar said a big key was keeping the Oilers’ stars from shining.
“For us, it’s just about trying to keep them in front of us,” Makar said. “Obviously we have some good speed on the back end and sometimes, we want to challenge. But they have a lot of incredible speed and we have to make sure we’re keying on the right guys and not giving them options.”
Of Game 4 Monday night, Landeskog said, “The job is not finished. We have a lot of work to do.”
