EDMONTON, Alberta - Kurt Sauer has been one of the Avalanche's most dependable defensemen during its furious attempt to gain a playoff berth.

But when Sauer was unable to make what he later called a "simple play" Friday night with time winding down and the Avalanche nursing a one-goal lead, the Edmonton Oilers took advantage.

Joffrey Lupul gained possession of a loose puck that squirted by Sauer at the Avalanche blue line and whipped it past goalie Peter Budaj to tie the score 3-3 with 1:47 remaining.

After a scoreless 5-minute overtime, Marty Reasoner, the Oilers' fifth shooter, beat Budaj with a shot over his blocker for the only goal of the shootout to hand the Avalanche a 4-3 loss and send the Rexall Place sellout crowd of 16,839 home happy.

The victory, the Oilers' first since a 4-3 shootout win Feb. 23 at Detroit, ended their losing streak at 12 games (0-11-1).

The Avalanche gained a point and has gone 11 games (9-0-2) without a regulation defeat but now trails Calgary by five points with only eight games remaining, including its contest Sunday against Northwest Division-leading Vancouver.

"This time of the year, you need everything," Avs coach Joel Quenneville said of the squandered point. "We almost have to win every game, and to leave a point on the table is tough. They were due for a win, and it was a dangerous game going into it."

The Oilers played a much stronger game than Wednesday, when the Avalanche rolled to a 5-1 win, in part because they were embarrassed but also because they welcomed the return of Reasoner and Ales Hemsky from shoulder injuries.

Reasoner said his shoulder was still too sore for him to raise his arms after he beat Budaj, though Hemsky didn't have that problem when he scored a goal in the second period.

"They had a lot more energy, a lot more jump," Sauer said. "It seemed like Hemsky being back helped them a lot."

After blowing a 2-0 lead, the Avalanche went ahead 3-2 at 4:40 of the third period when Marek Svatos poked the puck between goalie Dwayne Roloson's pads for a power-play goal.

It turned out to be the last hurrah for the Avalanche, which outshot the Oilers 15-5 in the period, 4-1 in the overtime and 46- 22 for the game.

" 'Rollie' was great for them. He made some pretty amazing saves," Quenneville said.

Sauer was upset for allowing the puck to get by him before Lupul scored the tying goal. The Avalanche had knocked the puck away from Oilers defenseman Tom Gilbert before it slid by Sauer.

"I was coming off the bench and the guys did a good job," Sauer said. "They poke-checked the puck away from the guy and it just went under the heel of my stick. No excuse.

"It's the last minute of the game and I've got to be able to at least get that out. It's funny when it comes down to one play, a simple play, one you do all game long."

Budaj felt he should have made the save against Lupul, who skated into the Avalanche end with speed and fired the puck by defenseman Brett Clark before it entered the net.

"It's a tough loss," Budaj said. "I thought I should have had the third one. It was a bad goal. It kind of surprised me. I thought he's always going high and he went kind of low. It's a bad break.

"At least we got the point, but it's not satisfying."

Avalanche rookie Paul Stastny was dangerous all game, with seven shots on goal. He also hit the post a couple of times.

Yet Stastny didn't get an opportunity to try his luck against Roloson in the shootout. Quenneville's first five shooters were Svatos, Milan Hejduk, Joe Sakic, Brett McLean and rookie Wojtek Wolski.

"He was next," Quenneville said of Stastny.

The Avalanche took a 2-0 lead on goals by Brad Richardson and Joe Sakic, whose power- play goal 52 seconds into the second period was the 606th of his career, two behind 15th-place Dino Ciccarelli on the all-time list.

The Oilers responded with goals from Hemsky and Petr Sykora to tie the game.

Hemsky, who missed the previous eight games because of a shoulder injury, scored at 7:21 and Sykora followed with a power-play goal at 12:17.

INJURY UPDATE: Svatos and Avalanche defenseman Jeff Finger were shaken up during the game but continued to play. Finger appeared to hurt his shoulder on a hit against the boards during the third period, but he shook it off and continued.

Colorado......1	1	1	0	-	3
Edmonton......0	2	1	0	-	4

Edmonton won shootout 1-0

First period - 1, Col, Richardson 12 (Laperriere, Arnason), 9:02. Penalties - Edm bench, served by Torres (too many men), 17:25; Sakic, Col, (holding), 17:48; Hemsky, Edm (hooking), 18:54.

Second period - 2, Col, Sakic 32 (Hejduk, Brunette), :52 (pp). 3, Edm, Hemsky 10 (Thoresen, Smith), 7:21. 4, Edm, Sykora 21 (Horcoff, Roloson), 12:17 (pp). Penalties - Klee, Col, (delay of game), 3:00; Guite, Col, (hooking), 11:16; Pisani, Edm (hooking), 16:52.

Third period - 5, Col, Svatos 15 (Arnason, McLean), 4:40 (pp). 6, Edm, Lupul 16 (Gilbert), 18:13. Penalties - Winchester, Edm (high-sticking), 2:56; Smith, Edm (hooking), 14:28.

Overtime - None. Penalties - None.

Shootout - Col 0 (Svatos NG, Hejduk NG, Sakic NG, McLean NG, Wolski NG); Edm 1 (Hemsky NG, Sykora NG, Pisani NG, Lupul NG, Reasoner G).

Shots - Col 14-13-15-4 - 46. Edm 5-11-5-1 - 22. Power plays - Col 2 of 5; Edm 1 of 2. Goalies - Col, Budaj 27-15-6 (22 shots-19 saves). Edm, Roloson 26-32-6 (46-43). A - 16,839 (16,839). T - 2:43. Referees - Don Koharski, Rob Shick. Linesmen - Derek Nansen, Jay Sharrers.

sadowskir@RockyMountainNews.com

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