Oilers’ desperation level at ‘all-time high’ after Game 3 loss

EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oilers don’t like their situation but insist they will not yield despite facing elimination following a 4-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final at Rogers Place on Saturday.

“It obviously stings to go down 3-0, but saying that, it’s not over until you lose four,” Oilers goalie Mike Smith said after making 39 saves in Game 3. “We’ve got to come back in Game 4 and try and win one game and move on from there.

“Obviously, the desperation level has to be at an all-time high in order to win at this time of the year. It comes from everybody in the room. Just a little bit more. Like Connor [McDavid] said, it’s a game of inches. There’s not a lot of space out there, but you’ve got to give everything you have for one game.”

Game 4 is here Monday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN, TVAS).

The Oilers face the historically difficult task of rallying from down 3-0. It’s been done four times out of 202 such scenarios in a best-of-7 series in NHL history.

“They’re a good hockey team,” McDavid said. “I’m going to keep saying that. They obviously do a lot of good things defensively and offensively. We’re a good team, too, and we have to find a way to score and find a way to defend as well. I think we all, like ‘Smitty’ said, can go up in our desperation. It has to be at an all-time high, like he said. We go one at a time.”

That one time will be Monday, and it will be Edmonton’s only focus, defenseman Cody Ceci said.

“It’s not an ideal spot, but we’re not quitting on each other yet,” Ceci said. “We’re going to take it one game at a time, so all we’re looking at is next game. Hopefully we can pull it out and try and get one in their barn, too.”

McDavid put the Oilers ahead 38 seconds into Game 3, his ninth goal of the playoffs and League-leading 30th point. But Edmonton could find just one other goal, that from Ryan McLeod to tie the game 2-2 at 7:34 of the third period.

[RELATED: Complete Avalanche vs. Oilers series coverage]

After a wild 8-6 Colorado win in Game 1, Edmonton has scored two goals in the past two games.

That offensive lull — the Oilers have averaged 4.00 goals per game in the playoffs this season — has been caused by the difficulty in finding pucks near the opposition’s net, forward Evander Kane said. Edmonton has run into diligent Avalanche defenders who are good at boxing out, tying up sticks and getting strong position near their own goal.

“You know what, I thought tonight we had a lot of pucks at their net, we just couldn’t find those rebounds,” Kane said. “You look at all their goals, real lucky bounces at unfortunate times of the game. We’ve got to find our way to creating our own bounces and our own luck and be a little more determined around the net.”

While they regroup ahead of Game 4, the Oilers may look to their penalty kill in Game 3 for a spark.

Neither team scored a power-play goal Saturday, but Colorado had a decided edge in time with the man-advantage (11:27 to 4:00). That included a major penalty for boarding assessed to Kane 1:06 into the game after he checked Colorado’s Nazem Kadri into the boards from behind.

“I thought the kill did a great job,” McDavid said. “Absolute warriors out there getting in the way of some big shots. [Smith] hung in there and did a great job for us. I thought it actually gave us a bit of momentum.”