It's Thanksgiving here -- have a happy one to all those celebrating. I'll be enjoying the holiday with family and friends.
As for the Avalanche (9-10-0), a third-period meltdown Wednesday resulted in a 6-3 loss to Edmonton at the Pepsi Center, their first defeat when leading after two periods.
Led by teen sensation Connor McDavid and linemate Milan Lucic, the Oilers (12-8-1) scored four times in the third to wipe out a 3-2 deficit, with Jordan Eberle closing it out with an empty-netter.
McDavid, who leads the NHL in scoring with 27 points (nine goals, 18 assists), had a goal and two assists in the third. Lucic matched his single game career high with four points (one goal, three assists).
Turnovers, poor decisions and too many penalties led to yet another home loss, where the Avalanche are 4-5-0 after going 17-20-4 there last season. They also squandered a chance to climb above .500 for the first time since Oct. 29, when they were 4-3-0.
Just a wonderful way to begin a five-game homestand that continues Saturday when Vancouver comes to town. “Our execution is poor,… coach Jared Bednar said after the Avalanche blew 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 leads. “You've got to be able to manage the puck against good players, otherwise they’re going to find a way to create opportunities. That’s what McDavid does.…
Undisciplined play continues to plague the Avalanche. They took eight penalties and gave up two goals in six shorthanded situations.
“The worst penalty kills are the teams that take the most penalties, and that’s where we’re at," Bednar said. "You’re trying to ask your teammates to kill five, six, seven penalties a game. It’s not going to happen. No team does that. So that’s why those teams are at the bottom, and we’re part of that pack.…
Nathan MacKinnon, who had a goal and an assist, opened the scoring on a 2-on-1 with Rene Bourque at 5:50 of the first period, but the Oilers tied it at 8:45 when Nikita Zadorov's pass from behind the net bounced off Francois Beauchemin's stick into the left circle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ripped it by goalie Semyon Varlamov (five goals, 40 shots).
"What is disappointing for me is that we scored enough goals to win the game," Bednar said. "We just can't hand them the easy ones. We get up 1-0, hand them an easy one. Every time we got a little momentum, we take a penalty and again then we're asking our team to kill it with the skill they have on their power play."
Bourque converted MacKinnon's pass at 17:19 during a delayed penalty he drew for the first of his two goals -- Bourque and Matt Duchene have a team high seven -- but Jarome Iginla took a hooking penalty with 37.3 seconds to go in the period and Eberle tapped in a rebound with 10.4 seconds left to make it 2-2.
Bourque put the Avalanche ahead 3-2 at 12:56 of the second period when he deflected Tyson Barrie's blue line shot by goalie Cam Talbot (three goals, 28 shots). That came 10 minutes after Varlamov stopped McDavid on a breakaway.
The Avalanche managed to kill off back-to-back Oilers power plays later in the period before disaster struck in the third.
Lucic put in the rebound of a driving McDavid 32 seconds into the period after the Avalanche coughed up the puck in the neutral zone, and the Oilers got goals from McDavid and Leon Draisaitl 65 seconds apart to build a 5-3 lead.
McDavid banked the puck off Varlamov from behind the net at 6:25 off a 3-on-2 rush, and Draisaitl scored on a rebound from in close at 7:30 on a power play with Iginla off for tripping.
The Avalanche took two more penalties -- Andreas Martinsen for high-sticking and Mikko Rantanen for slashing -- making it even more difficult for them to come back.