Marek Svatos's goal at 10:33 of the second period lifted the Colorado Avalanche to a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers Thursday night at Rexall Place.
The victory snaps a three-game road losing streak for the Avalanche, who suffered losses in Dallas, Minnesota and Calgary.
Colorado's Marek Svatos, left, scores on Oilers goalie Mathieu Garon during the second period Thursday night at Rexall Place in Edmonton.
(John Ulan/Canadian Press)
Colorado (12-8-1) moves into first place in the tight Northwest Division, one point ahead of idle Vancouver and Minnesota.
"We salvaged the trip with one game," Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said. "It was disappointing up to today's game with three tough losses and two really poor performances.
"But we still had first place on the line going into this game and it was a real motivator for us. We started the trip in first and we were able to get back there."
Karlis Skrastins and Milan Hejduk also scored for Colorado, while Shawn Horcoff and Ales Hemsky replied for the Oilers.
The Oilers (8-13-1) remain last in the Northwest Division and have dropped three of their last six games.
"We couldn't defend them without taking the penalties," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "We took eight penalties. Some of those penalties were [inexplicable] to be taking this late in the season.
"We also had a [season] high number of turnovers tonight. You can't be turning the puck over like that."
Colorado has won all three of its matchups with the Oilers this season, one at home and two on the road. The Avalanche have also won seven of their last nine meetings with Edmonton and five of six as the visiting club.
Svatos put the Avalanche ahead for good midway through the second period as he converted his own rebound by Edmonton goaltender Mathieu Garon.
Svatos appeared to re-direct the puck in with his skate, but the replay showed he knocked in the puck with his stick.
"I was pretty confident it would count, but you never know what the results are going to be when they go upstairs," Svatos said.
Quenneville was also confident the goal would stand.
"When I saw him kick it, I knew it was going wide and he had to have done something for it to go in," the coach said. "He's got those quick little hands around the net and can score those kind of goals."
Colorado opened the scoring at 6:43 of the first in when former Oiler Ryan Smyth picked up the loose puck and fed it to Skrastins, who beat Garon for his first goal this season.
The Oilers drew even less than 10 minutes later as Horcoff fired a wrist shot from the side of the net by Avalanche goalie Peter Budaj.
Colorado then took a 2-1 advantage after John-Michael Liles's point shot was tipped in by Hejduk at 6:35 of the second.
But the Oilers replied 36 seconds later when Horcoff slid a cross-ice pass to Hemsky, who one-timed a shot past Budaj.
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