Oilers must save season without Kane in Game 4 against Avalanche

Kane cross-checked Nazem Kadri of the Colorado Avalanche into the boards at 1:06 of the first period of Game 3 on Saturday, which the Avalanche won 4-2. He received a major penalty for boarding.Colorado leads the best-of-7 series 3-0. Game 4 is at Rogers Place on Monday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN, TVAS).Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft, who spoke to reporters before the suspension was announced Sunday, said he preferred to remain optimistic about the outcome of Kane’s hearing with the Department of Player Safety.”I think Evander will be available for us tomorrow,” Woodcroft said. “That’s just my opinion. If things go the other way, we’ll deal with this when it happens.”Kane leads the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs with 13 goals in 15 games, playing frequently on Edmonton’s top line with Connor McDavid, who leads the NHL this postseason with 30 points (nine goals, 21 assists) in 15 games.The Oilers were already without forward Kailer Yamamoto, who didn’t finish Game 2 because of an upper-body injury. Yamamoto has seven points (two goals, five assists) in 14 playoff games.Teams that trail 3-0 in a best-of-7 series are 4-198 in NHL history.”We have a Game 7 mindset now, right?” Edmonton forward Zach Hyman said. “A tough loss (in Game 3), obviously. We played well but didn’t get the result, and you know now we’ve got to take it one game at a time.”RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Oilers series coverage]Woodcroft said the Oilers are well-rehearsed at that approach since he replaced Dave Tippett as coach.”What I would say is that we’re here to win a game and that message has been drilled into our team since Feb. 11,” Woodcroft said. “We’re here to win one hockey game and take care of that day’s business and when you do that, outcomes take care of themselves.”Edmonton has been outscored 16-8 in the series, and 8-2 in the past two games. It’s been a dramatic change from the second round, when the Oilers won their best-of-7 series against the Calgary Flames in five games. After losing the series opener 9-6, Edmonton won the final four games of the series and outscored Calgary 19-11.”We’re coming off our biggest win of the year a week ago,” Oilers defenseman Duncan Keith said. “So, we know what we have on our team and what we’re capable of. It’s going to start with one win, and you carry it from there. It’s a tough challenge, but it’s also an exciting opportunity.”Not a lot of people are expecting us to do much now, so we’ll just go play hockey and do what we’ve done all year.”Hyman said the Avalanche will be feeling the heat to find a fourth victory in the series. Colorado is 11-2 in the playoffs.”Everybody’s kind of counting us out, so there’s no pressure on our end,” Hyman said. “All the pressure flips to Colorado; they’re expected to win now, being up 3-0. So for us, it’s just about getting one and then go from there. We’re a team that’s faced adversity; we’ve talked about it all year long. We’re a confident group still. If there’s ever a team that could do it, I believe that this is the team. It starts with one.”