Eurolanche

Avalanche edge Oilers in shootout

Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov poked the puck away from Jordan Eberle and made a pad save against Sam Gagner to secure the win.

Taylor Hall tied the game 2-2 for the Oilers with 4:43 to play in the third period when, while on his belly, he put the rebound of Eberle's shot past Varlamov.

The Oilers appeared to tie the game six minutes earlier on a goal by Ales Hemsky, but it was immediately waved off because one of the posts came off.

The Avalanche outshot the Oilers 16-8 in the second period when Cody McLeod and Peter Mueller scored goals to take a 2-1 lead.

Ryan Wilson set up McLeod's goal, which tied the game 1-1 at 4:44. Wilson skated behind the net and passed to McLeod, who had been knocked to the ice but got up and moved to beneath the left circle for a shot that eluded goalie Nikolai Khabibulin.

Mueller put the Avalanche in front at 10:05. Hejduk, who has been struggling in recent weeks, skated into the Oilers' zone and put a move on defenseman Ryan Whitney before continuing to the net to put a shot on goal. Mueller followed the play and banged the loose puck into the net with Khabibulin down and out of the play.

Mueller has collected a goal and 4 assists in a four-game point-scoring streak. The goal was his first in seven games since returning from a torso injury that caused him to miss six games.

Varlamov came out to the outside edge of his crease to make a big glove save on Jeff Petry's shot from the left circle with 1:39 to play in the period.

The Oilers scored the only first-period goal with 36.1 seconds remaining when Ryan Smyth skated into traffic and nudged the puck underneath Varlamov. Rookie Ryan Nugent-Hopkins took a drop pass from Eberle and fired a shot from the right circle. Varlamov poked the puck with his stick into the slot and Smyth was in perfect position to whack it home.

-by Rick Sadowski for NHL.com-