 and Milan Hejduk (twice) as the only Avalanche players to reach the 40-goal mark since the franchise relocated to Denver. Kerfoot knocked in the go-ahead goal late in the second period. It was his second straight night with a big tally. In St. Louis on Monday, Kerfoot tied the game in the final minute to secure a valuable point before Colorado lost in a shootout. Lucic scored his first goal since Jan. 19, and Nurse added another in a dominating first period by Edmonton. Connor McDavid and the Oilers were eliminated from the postseason Monday. McDavid said that night after a loss in Vegas his frustration level was high in missing the playoffs for a third time in his four seasons. Edmonton coach Ken Hitchcock understands.''If you're frustrated it usually gets replaced sometime during the summer by determination,'' Hitchcock said in an interview posted on the team's website. ''When you put as much into the season as a lot of these players put in and you don't have success, you'd hope they'd be frustrated, and angry and disappointed and whatever other emotion you want to go there.''NOTES: Edmonton F Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two assists. ... Avalanche F Matt Nieto had an assist in his 400th NHL game. ... Colorado had 13 different players pick up at least a point. ... Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog had two assists. UP NEXTOilers: Host San Jose on Thursday. Avalanche: Host Winnipeg on Thursday.---More NHL: https://apnews.com/tag/NHL and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Time: 9:00 PM EDT Venue: Pepsi Center, Denver, Colo., 80204 / The Colorado Avalanche's season looked destined to end without a playoff berth a few weeks ago. But thanks to their late-season rally, the Avalanche not only are in the playoff race, but now control that destiny. Their ultimate fate will be decided in the final three games of the regular season, the first of which happens Tuesday night in Denver against an Edmonton Oilers team playing out the string. The Avalanche (36-29-14, 86 points) are in the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference and hold a two-point lead over the Arizona Coyotes after salvaging a point in St. Louis on Monday night. Alexander Kerfoot's tying goal in the final minute of regulation completed a third-period rally that would send the game to a shootout where the Blues prevailed. Still, heading home up two points instead of one was a big lift for a Colorado team that has gone 7-2-2 in its last 11 games." We were pretty resilient and able to get a point, which is huge down the stretch," Kerfoot told reporters after Monday's loss. The Avalanche can gain two more points against an Edmonton team that is now eliminated from playoff contention. The Oilers are coming off a 3-1 loss in La Vegas on Monday nightEdmonton (34-36-9, 77 points) was officially eliminated when Colorado earned the point Monday but reality had set in before that. Head coach Ken Hitchcock shuffled his lineup for the game against the Golden Knights and went with younger players." I'm not taking a look," the Oilers head coach told the Edmonton Journal before Monday's game about whether he is trying to see younger players in more game situations. "Thanks to management, I've had great support on that. I'm playing who's playing (well). If you're not playing well I don't care who you are, I don't care how long you've been in the league, I want us to finish on a strong note." We've worked too hard to get to where we're at and I didn't want to see a game like our last game (a 5-1 home-ice loss to Anaheim on Saturday), so play hard or don't play. We've got lots of numbers here. If you play hard you get to play the next game. If you don't, you have to wait your turn." One guy who hasn't taken his foot off the gas is Connor McDavid. The 2016-17 NHL MVP is having another stellar season. He has 115 points after scoring his 41st goal against the Knights. The points are a career high and the goals are tied for McDavid's best mark heading into the season. Still, McDavid's efforts haven't been enough to get the Oilers back to the postseason. They can put a damper on Colorado's playoff push on Tuesday night if they can beat the Avalanche and take the season series from Colorado. The teams have split the first two games but haven't played since Edmonton's 6-4 win on Dec. 11. That was at the beginning of a two-month slump for Colorado. The Avalanche came out of their funk in time to save their season and give themselves a chance to reach the postseason for the second straight season.--Field Level Media
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