DENVER - Ian Laperriere has had more fights than goals in his 13 NHL years but when he sees the Edmonton Oilers his calloused mitts turn into Downy soft hands.

On a night when the Oilers more or less controlled the Colorado Avalanche's big guns Paul Stastny and Joe Sakic, holding them to a goal each, the battle-scarred winger got his first goal of the year and fed another tough guy Cody McLeod for another score Thursday. Then he got into his 163rd NHL fight in his 933rd game as the Avs rolled to a 4-1 win, their fourth in a row.

After the rarefied air of a 4-0 start, the Oilers have come down to earth with a thud, losing two in a row. They've been outscored 7-1, losing in Chicago and now here with another game in Vancouver Saturday night. They played harder and smarter in this loss than they did on Wednesday when they never got it out of first gear, but they were done in when they fell asleep in the last 71z2 minutes of the second, giving up three goals with Laperriere figuring in two of them.

"How many Gordie Howe hat-tricks have you had?" Laperriere was asked.

"Uh, a few, but I don't count them" grinned Laperriere.

"How many real hat-tricks?"

"I don't like the tone of that question," laughed Laperriere, who has 112 career goals and 299 points. "One real hat-trick, and they can't take it away from me."

He scored on a lucky rebound to tie it 1-1 after Shawn Horcoff's early second period powerplay goal (Ales Hemsky got an assist, his 200th career point). He pounced on a loose puck after a Ben Guite shot bounced right to him off the foot of Lubomir Visnovsky. He fed McLeod who burst by Sheldon Souray and Visnovsky to make it 3-1. The two points gives him 26 career points against the Oilers. That's more than he has against any other team. He also has 12 goals. That's second most to Phoenix (14). But, who's counting.

He wasn't around at the end of the game because he got major and misconduct penalties after a scrap with Zack Stortini. He may have saved McLeod's life off that draw because the two-storey walkup Steve MacInytre wanted to go with McLeod on the other side of the circle. Laperriere, who was wearing a scar on his nose after a recent fight with Dallas Stars' Steve Ott, didn't like Stortini's effort and left the ice mimicking what he felt was Stortini's wrestling style

Laperriere didn't like Oilers coach Craig MacTavish taking a shot at him either. "He kept sending those guys (Stortini and MacIntyre) out there when it was 4-1 and I don't think it was to score goals. Cracked me up a bit. It's kind of funny a guy who never fought, sends those guys out there."

MacTavish was taken aback by Laperriere's criticism. "I have a lot of respect for him (as a player). Tell him when he's coaching he can put whoever he wants out on the ice," said MacTavish. "I have to get them some minutes."

Stortini played two shifts in the third before the fight when he also got five- and 10-minute penalties. MacInytre played five shifts in the game, the most of his short NHL career (6:18). It wasn't like the Oilers heavies started a pier six brawl or cheap-shotted anybody.

"He's (Stortini) 240 pounds and he comes after a guy like me who's 195. I have a hard time with that. And he keeps punching when guys are down. He'll learn, he'll find his match," said Laperriere, who got a counter-punch from Stortini. He also was stung by the verbal roundhouse right.

"I'll fight anybody, doesn't matter how light they are or how heavy. I was swinging, trying to throw as many punches as I could," said Stortini.

And Laperriere's theatrics as he left the ice? "I'd prefer not to say what I think," said Stortini.

After a strong first 33 minutes sitting up a goal on the road, when the Oilers seemed to have the game in hand, they just lost it. For the first time Mathieu Garon couldn't bail them out. He made a phenomenal save on Milan Hejduk in the first period, then was helpless on Laperriere's goal, Stastny's marker in traffic on a powerplay (one of five straight hooking penalties against the Oilers), and had no chance on Sakic's bang-bang passing play in the third. He might like to have McLeod's back, though. "Slid under me. I went to poke check him and he lost it off his stick," said Garon.

MacTavish was philosophical in defeat. "The first goal was a bad break but we got quite a few good ones to start to the season. It's going out of the zone, hits the linesman to keep it alive and it ends up in our net," said MacTavish.

"The game turned in a hurry. If it wasn't on the heels of the game in Chicago, it would be easier to accept. We needed to be the more desperate team. We started with that, but we took the hooking penalties, and you don't do that to a team that can capitalize as quickly as they can."

"This is probably a bit of an evener. We probably didn't deserve to win the first game against these guys(the opener Oct. 12) and it usually evens itself out," said MacTavish.

jmatheson@thejournal.canwest.com