McDavid scores twice, but special teams find ways to lose as Oilers buried 4-3 by Avalanche

To paraphrase Paul Simon, there must be 50 ways to lose a hockey game.

The Edmonton Oilers found many of them Thursday in a 4-3 overtime lossagainst the Colorado Avalanche.

Start with the fact that the Oilers surrendered the game's first goal for the 31st time this season. That's almost a death sentence in itself; their record is now 9-21-1 when their opponent scores first.

Then the worst home-ice penalty kill in the league (55.8 per cent) gave up yet another goal.

That put the Oilers down 2-0, eight minutes into the second period.

Give the Oilers credit, they responded right away.

McDavidfinds a new way to score

One minute and 19 seconds later, Connor McDavid took a pass from Leon Draisaitl and broke in alone on the Avalanche goal.

His close-in shot was stopped by goaltender Jonathan Bernier. The puck popped up off Bernier's pad and McDavid batted it out of air to make the score 2-1.

Things stayed that way until the final minute of the period.

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Then, in the span of 30 seconds, everything that could go wrong for the Oilers did. With less than a minute left on the clock, Oilers defenceman Kris Russell skated in on net and got off a shot from a bad angle.

Bernier got his glove on the puck. Sprawled on the ice at the edge of the crease, Oilers forward Drake Caggiula stretched out his stick and shoved Bernier's glove and the puck into the net.

Even as fans at Rogers Placebegan to celebrate the tie game, the officials were converging near centre ice for a huddle.

The crowd began to boo, no doubt thinking about several goals the Oilers have had called back this season. After a tense minute or two, the referee announced that the puck had completely cross the goal line.

He pointed at centre ice and said: "We have a good goal."

'A real kick in the butt'

Not so fast.

Colorado coach Jared Bednar immediately asked for a review of the play. The call went to Toronto, and officials there, rightly, ruled the play was goaltender interference.

No goal.

"I had a feeling it was going to be called back," Caggiula said after the game. "I pushed his glove into the net."

Oilers coach Todd McLellan saw that as one turning point in a game with several of them.

"That was a real kick in the behind for us," he said. "That took a lot of momentum and life out of us."

The Avalanche did draw a penalty on the play.

Then the league's second worst power play got into the act, and just when things seemed darkest for the Oilers, the lights truly went out.

With less than half a minute left in the period, Blake Comeau skated around Oscar Klefbom and beat Montoya. His shorthanded goal put the visitors up 3-1.

Again, give the Oilers credit.

They came out and dominated the third period, outshooting the Avalanche 12-3.

Caggiula got his goal back when a Matt Benning point shot hit him in the chest and deflection into the net to make it 3-2.

The Oilers big bruisers went to work, as well. Zack Kassian hit threeguys on one shift and Milan Lucic knocked two Colorado players flat.

Oilers came back twice from two-goal deficits

The score stayed 3-2 into the final minute, when Oilers coach Todd McLellan lifted Montoya. With a 6-5 man advantage and the seconds ticking down, the Oilers kept the visitors cooped up in their own zone.

They passed the puck around and around until finally Draisaitl fired a shot from the point. He missed the net by six inches, but the puck rebounded off the backboards right to McDavid, who easily scored his second of the game to tie the score.

In overtime, McDavid and Draisaitl carried the play for the first minute and created scoring chances. A minute later, a mad scramble in the Oilers zone allowed J.T. Compher to jump on a loose puck and slam home the game winner.

McLellan did not want to talk to moral victories. Not when the team needs actual victories, and plenty of them, to climb out of the hole they're in.

"The moral victory side is the fact that we were able to come back. We could have felt sorry for ourselves after the third [goal], and we didn't. I thought our game got better as the night went on."

The Oilers got a single point out of Thursday's game and remain 12 points out of the playoffs. They don't play again until Monday when the Tampa Bay Lightning come to town.