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Gagner's three points help Oilers dominate Avalanche

Mar 6, 2011 - 6:19 AM Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Sam Gagner posted a goal and two assists to get his first three-point game of the season, as Edmonton topped Colorado, 5-1, in a battle of the Western Conference's two worst teams.

Shawn Horcoff, Alexandre Giroux, Andrew Cogliano and Ryan Jones all scored for the Oilers, who have won three straight and played their first game after top overall pick Taylor Hall was lost for the season with a high left ankle sprain.

Devan Dubnyk made 33 saves between the pipes for the win.

Ryan O'Reilly scored the lone goal for the Avalanche, who have dropped five straight and sit in 14th place in the West with 60 points.

Colorado has just one victory in its last 16 games and pulled starter Brian Elliott in the second period after he gave up four goals on 19 shots. Peter Budaj made 11 saves in relief.

"We have to keep working on it," said defenseman Adam Foote, who returned after missing 11 games with a leg injury. "We have to keep talking, keep battling until it changes. It's all right here in this room. When things are going well it's easy. When it's not, it's easy to criticize and easy to get down."

Edmonton got on the board first when Cogliano fed Gagner, who roofed it past Elliott on the power play at 4:19 of the opening period.

The Oilers struck again on the power play with 10:43 left in the first. Gagner tried to jam the puck in from the doorstep but was blocked by Elliott's right leg pad. However, the rebound went right to Jones, who finished the scoring play.

"We just kept it simple and got some good bounces," Cogliano said of the team's power play, which was 2-for-2. "We were efficient and we took advantage of their mistakes."

It took just 39 seconds into the second period for the Oilers to make it a 3-0 game on Horcoff's ninth goal of the season.

The margin extended to four when Giroux tipped in his first goal of the season at the 8:36 mark. The goal also chased Elliott out of the net in favor for Budaj.

The Avs finally found the back of the net late in the second period with O'Reilly's jam from in tight for his sixth goal of the year.

The Oilers got a shorthanded goal 29 seconds into the third. Liam Reddox led a 2-on-1 charge and crossed the puck to Cogliano, who finished it into the wide open net.

Game Notes

Hall leads the Oilers with 22 goals through 65 games this season and is even with Ales Hemsky for the team lead in points with 42. Edmonton was also without Hemsky, who is expected to miss the next three weeks with a shoulder injury...It was Jones' first goal in eight games...Edmonton is 11-16-4 overall as the guest.