(My Sportsbook) - With the Colorado Avalanche struggling, a coach making his NHL debut and the Avs playing without Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg, the Oilers had to like their chances on Thursday, right?

Well it did not matter, as Edmonton fell behind by two goals and could not solve future Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy in a 2-1 loss at the Pepsi Center.

"We deserved what we got tonight, there's no question," said head coach Craig MacTavish. "We didn't fire from the start. We were sloppy early on in."

The loss was the Oilers third in a row to an opponent in the Northwest Division, where they remain in third place, five points back of the upstart Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Wild, and now just three points ahead of the suddenly-surging Avs.

"We knew they were going to play with a lot of emotion, but we were flat," said Anson Carter. "For one reason or another we were flat. We weren't able to have that jump that we've had the last 10, 15 games or so. If it wasn't for Tommy [Salo] the outcome would have been a lot worse."

"Plus it's a divisional game, which magnifies it a lot," Carter added. Especially in a game where we thought we had a pretty good chance to get two points out of here. They were down their two top centers."

Alex Tanguay scored with 6:15 left in the first period to give the Avs a 1-0 lead. Tanguay charged towards the net and made a great move to get by defenseman Ales Pisa. He slid the puck under Pisa's stick before picking it up at the right side of the crease to beat Tommy Salo under his right arm.

Dean McAmmond added a goal at 5:40 of the third period to give Colorado a two- goal advantage. Adam Foote a sent a shot at the net from the right point and McAmmond, who was in the low slot, deflected the puck over Salo's stick.

"The way we were creating offense, that was almost an insurmountable lead," said MacTavish.

Roy came within an eyelash of his 62nd career shutout and preserved his bid in the final minute with a spectacular glove save on Carter's attempt from the right side of the crease. However, Mike York scored with just two ticks remaining on the clock to finally get Edmonton on the board. He beat the netminder with a wrister from just below the right circle.

"They're a better team now than they were at the start of the hockey game because of the confidence factor," said MacTavish. "I think we might have created the same monster here."

UP NEXT

The Oilers conclude a three-game road trip in Vancouver on Saturday, then will begin a brief two-game homestand on Thursday with the Canucks before wrapping the set up against Toronto next Saturday.