Avalanche stave off Oilers to win wild Game 1

The Colorado Avalanche held on to win an 8-6 barn burner against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final on Tuesday night.

Edmonton entered the third period down 7-4, but Derek Ryan and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins brought the team within one goal. Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog ultimately potted an empty-netter to put the game out of reach.

The contest is the highest-scoring Game 1 in Western Conference Final history, according to Hockey Night in Canada.

Evander Kane opened the showdown with his NHL-leading 13th playoff goal, but J.T. Compher responded 36 seconds later. The teams looked set to enter the first intermission tied 2-2, but star blue-liner Cale Makar scored with 14 seconds remaining. The goal stood after an offside review.

Nathan MacKinnon, Nazem Kadri, Mikko Rantanen, and Andrew Cogliano also scored for Colorado, while Zach Hyman, Ryan McLeod, and Connor McDavid found the back of the net for Edmonton.

There was plenty of movement in the creases as well. The Oilers pulled netminder Mike Smith after Compher's second tally made it 6-3 in the second period, while Colorado's Darcy Kuemper exited shortly after with an upper-body injury.

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