EDMONTON, Alberta — Colorado’s Artturi Lehkonen scored on a rebound 1:19 into overtime in Game 4 here Monday night against Edmonton as the Avs swept the Western Conference Finals and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since winning it all in 2001.
Lehkonen collected Cale Makar’s rebound off goalie Mike Smith and swatted it into an open net for a 6-5 victory. Makar had a hand in five goals, scoring the first.
Colorado rallied from a 4-2 deficit in the third period. It was face the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals, which the New York Rangers lead 2-1 over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
With the score tied 4-4, Avalanche center Mikko Rantanen scored a power-play goal with 5:13 remaining in the third period for Colorado’s first lead since going ahead 1-0. But less than two minutes later, Oilers winger Zach Kassian pounced on a loose puck in the crease to forge another tie.
The Avalanche rallied from third-period deficits of 3-1 and 4-2. Top-line forwards Gabe Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon put pucks behind goalie Mike Smith at 8:58 and 13:30 to knot it 4-4. Landeskog chipped the puck in the net during a moment of chaos in the crease and MacKinnon beat Smith with a top-shelf wrist shot.
The Avs had a 1-0 lead and were dominating play early in the second period before the Oilers got a goal from Zach Hyman to tie it and then scored two twice with 1:57 late in the frame to take a 3-1 lead into the third.
Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins both beat goalie Pavel Francouz with backhanders on the breakaway. Leon Draisaitl sprung Hyman with a diagonal pass through the neutral zone and Nugent-Hopkins capitalized on a defensive-end turnover by Avs defenseman Devon Toews.
A little more than a minute after Nugent-Hopkins’ goal, Colorado forward Alex Newhook shot the puck out of play from the defensive end for a delay-of-game minor. And 52 seconds later, Connor McDavid beat Francouz with a wrist shot on the power play.
In the first minute of the third period, Toews made up for his costly turnover by scoring to get Colorado within a goal. His shot from the high slot caromed off Edmonton defenseman Cody Ceci and behind Smith.
But Edmonton regained a two-goal lead by capitalizing on a 3-on-2 rush, with McDavid dropping the puck for Draisaitl and Draisaitl dishing to Hyman for a one-time blast.
Makar opened the scoring. It came during the game’s first power play as the result of Kassian’s slash on Avs defenseman Jack Johnson. Lehkonen sent the puck low to high to Makar, who found a lane and wristed the puck high over Smith’s glove-side shoulder./
Footnotes. Goalie Darcy Kuemper, who was injured early in Game 1 of this series, was cleared to play and backed up Francouz. … Mikko Rantanen, a natural right-winger, replaced the injured Nazem Kadri as the Avs’ second-line center. Winger Andre Burakovsky returned from a two-game injury absence and winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel stepped in for Nico Sturm. … Oilers forward Dylan Holloway, 20, made his NHL debut. Edmonton again went with 11 forwards and an extra defenseman (Kris Russell).
