Avalanche-Oilers Postgame Takeaways: NHL ain’t that easy, kid

EDMONTON, Alberta – Adam Werner finished the game he couldn’t start, and couldn’t finish the game he did start.

That’s life in the NHL, son. Everybody gets humbled at some point.

It seemed like the Adam Werner Cinderella story might last more than 48 hours, though. Connor McDavid was feelin’ it on Thursday night, though, so no.

Werner, who made 40 saves in his NHL debut Tuesday as an emergency replacement, allowed five goals on 18 shots – three of them by McDavid – in a lopsided Avs loss to the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.

In absolute fairness to Werner, none of this was much his fault. McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan-Nugent Hopkins – two former No. 1 overall picks and a No. 3 right there – were all over the score sheet.

Like, literally all over it. McDavid – three goals, three assists, a career-high six-point night. Draisaitl – five assists. Nugent-Hopkins – two goals.

These nights will happen to any goalie. Werner, though, didn’t want it to come that quick.

I counted only one real bad goal allowed by Werner – the last one, to McDavid, at 8:32 of the second. That goal chased him from the game in favor of Antoine Bibeau, who just like Werner two nights ago, made his Avs career debut and stopped nine of 10 shots.

“Shit happens,” Werner said. “That’s the thing about this sport. Some nights you have the bounces with you and some nights it’s on the other side.”

I asked Werner if he was mad at himself over any of the goals and he said, “It’s hard to say right now. I have to see them. Some of them I can do a better job at. I have to learn and do better. All you can do is get back to work and try to do better.”

OTHER TAKEAWAYS AND OBSERVATIONS AND NOTES