Andrew Cogliano scored the only goal of the third period as the Oilers rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Sunday night in Edmonton.
Edmonton fell behind 2-0 in the first period on goals by Tyler Arnasson and Ben Guite before storming back to tie it with second-period markers by Sam Gagner and Curtis Glencross.
Curtis Glencross celebrates his third-period goal on Colorado goalie Jose Theodore.
(Jimmy Jeong/Canadian Press)
Cogliano completed the comeback at 7:29 of the third. Electing to keep the puck on a two-on-one with Gagner, Cogliano snapped a low shot past the glove of Colorado goalie Jose Theodore.
"We could have faded away and let the game drift away but we came up with two big goals in the second," Cogliano said. "We just battled back. We felt that we weren't getting outplayed too much in the first period. We just weren't burying our chances and they had some bounces."
Mathieu Garon made 27 saves to help Edmonton (28-30-5) snap a three-game losing streak.
The Oilers are 11 points back of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Colorado (31-26-6) has lost six of its last seven and sits four points back of the Western playoff cutoff.
Avs get Sakic back
The Avalanche fell to the Oilers for the first time in five meetings this season despite having star forward Joe Sakic back in the lineup.
Sakic assisted on Guite's goal in his first game since he was injured on Nov. 30. The 38-year-old, who underwent a hernia operation on Dec. 28, had missed 38 games — the longest absence of his stellar career. Before getting hurt, he'd played in 232 consecutive games.
Sakic said he felt fine in his return.
"Actually it wasn't too bad," he said. "A little rusty in the first period but I kind of expected that. But as the game went, I started to feel more and more comfortable."
Colorado had got another of its best scorers back on Friday, when Paul Stastny returned from a 14-game absence after an appendectomy and groin injury.
Stastny had a terrific opportunity to tie Sunday's game with just under five minutes left and Colorado on a power play. He faced a wide-open net when a rebound bounced right to his stick, but fanned on the chance.
The Avalanche outshot Edmonton 11-6 in the first period, and Arnasson's goal 27 seconds into the game and Guite's marker at 12:53 had Colorado in control at the intermission.
The Oilers evened the score by dominating the second period, in which they held an 8-3 edge in shots.
Gagner got Edmonton on the board at 4:38. Left unchecked at the side of the net, he swept in Ales Hemsky's rebound for his seventh of the season. The goal extended the 18-year-old Gagner's team rookie-record points streak to nine games.
Glencross tied the game at 11:05 of the second, one-timing Kyle Brodziak's cross-crease feed for his eighth, and second in as many contests. Glencross has two goals and three assists since being acquired from Columbus on Feb. 1.
