Avalanche score eight, hold off Oilers in Game 1 of Western Final

DENVER — Cale Makar had a goal and two assists for the Colorado Avalanche in an 8-6 win against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final at Ball Arena on Tuesday.

J.T. Compher scored twice, and Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon, and Gabriel Landeskog each had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

Darcy Kuemper made 13 saves before he left the game at 7:19 of the second period because of an upper-body injury. Pavel Francouz made 18 saves in relief.

Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists, and Evander Kane and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had a goal and an assist for the Oilers, who are the No. 2 seed in the Pacific Division.

Mike Smith made allowed six goals on 25 shots before being replaced at 6:20 of the second period. Mikko Koskinen made 20 saves in relief.

Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is here on Thursday.

Kane gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead at 5:04 of the first period when he finished a breakaway with a shot over Kuemper’s left shoulder, but Compher tied it 1-1 at 5:40 on a 2-on-1.

MacKinnon gave Colorado a 2-1 lead at 15:10 when he cut between defensemen Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci and beat Smith five-hole.

Zach Hyman extended his goal streak to six games and tied it 2-2 on a redirection at 19:37, but Makar put the Avalanche back in front nine seconds later with a wrist shot from the top of the left face-off circle at 19:46 to make it 3-2.

Edmonton challenged the play for offside, but the goal stood.

Nazem Kadri scored on his own rebound for a power-play goal 32 seconds into the second period to make it 4-2.

Ryan McLeod cut it to 4-3 at 2:59, but Rantanen scored from the top of the right circle at 4:38 to make it 5-3.

Compher scored again at 6:20 on a redirection of Makar’s shot to give Colorado a 6-3 lead.

Andrew Cogliano made it 7-3 when he finished a 2-on-1 with Logan O’Connor at 16:20, but McDavid cut it to 7-4 with a one-timer from the left circle 31 seconds later at 16:51.

Derek Ryan made it 7-5 with a wrist shot from between the circles at 3:28 of the third period, and Nugent-Hopkins cut it to 7-6 with a power-play goal at 12:36.

Landeskog scored an empty-net goal with 22 seconds left for the 8-6 final.