The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Edmonton Oilers in a 6-5 overtime win in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals on Monday, thereby securing their place in the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 2001.
Colorado was able to close two multigoal leads that were held by Edmonton, which included the Oilers leading 4-2 in the third period. Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog, along with teammates Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, scored three unanswered goals before Zack Kassian leveled for the Oilers to send the game into overtime. Artturi Lehkonen needed just 1:19 to score the decider that would end Colorado’s 22-year Stanley Cup final drought.
“When I first got to Colorado, the team was dead last,” defenceman Erik Johnson recalled of his early days with the Avalanche. “Had some up-and-down years after that, and we’ve been knocking on the door here the last couple years. Just soaking it all in and trying to embrace the moment and just having a lot of fun.”
Victory for Colorado was all the more impressive considering the team’s injury. Avalanche was without Nazem Kadri, who suffered a broken thumb in Game 3 during a boarding incident with Evander Kane. Following surgery, it remains unclear whether Kadri will be available for the Stanley Cup finals.
Avalanche now waits to see who their opponent in the finals will be. Currently, the New York Rangers are leading the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in the Eastern Conference finals.
