The Avalanche bounced back after a turbulent first period and a shutout defeat in their previous affair.
In the battle of the disasters, the cold lit the candle.
Nathan MacKinnon had three assists, while Martin Nečas scored two goals and an assist as the Colorado Avalanche outclassed the Calgary Flames 4-2 at Scotiabank Saddledome Thursday night.
After entering the second period trailing by one, the Avs nailed the Flames with three unanswered goals when Cale Makar, Artturi Lehkonen, and Nečas lit the lamp.
Mackenzie Blackwood was stellar and recorded 27 saves, and Flames netminder Dustin Wolf himself stopped 30 of 34 shots.
First Period
Colorado shrugged off a cold start in the opening period. They started the game down a man after Samuel Girard was called for hooking, and the situation was exacerbated when Calvin de Haan lobbed the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. Jonathan Huberdeau capitalized on the 5-on-3 advantage and fired a shot by Blackwood to give Calgary a 1-0 lead.
After killing off another penalty, the Avs went on a surge for the ages. First, though, it appeared Sam Malinski scored but the Flames challenged and the goal was ruled offsides.
Second Period
Calgary native Makar tied the game 1:20 into the second with a wrist shot from above the right circle. The goal was yet another career milestone for Makar. With his 20th score of the season, Makar became one one of eight defensemen in NHL history to have three 20-goal seasons in the first six seasons of his career.
Lehkonen scored when he capitalized on a juicy rebound at 5:34 to make it a 2-1 game. It all came together in the offensive zone when several Flames defenders chased Nečas and attempted to force him into a turnover. Instead, Nečas outsmarted them and passed the puck to MacKinnon, who rang one off the crossbar before Lehkonen buried it in the back of the net.
Nečas doubled Colorado’s lead to two with just under 18 seconds remaining in the second frame when he deflected a blistering one-timer from MacKinnon by Wolf for a power play goal. In just seven games since Nečas joined the team, he has two goals and five assists for seven points.
Third Period
Down the stretch, Nečas scored his second of the game with 7:08 remaining in the contest on the breakaway when Sam Malinski slung a bank pass from his own zone right into the breadbasket, and Nečas snapped a wrister over Wolf’s glove to make it a 4-1 game.
Rasmus Andersson scored late for Calgary to put them within two, but it was too little, too late, and the Avs held on for the 4-2 victory.
Takeaways
Turnovers were an issue for Colorado (32-22-2) early in the game. At one point, Calgary (26-21-7) blitzed Blackwood with 10 shots on goal in approximately 13 minutes of play. That’s a lot of shots in a short period of time. However, the Avalanche stood their ground and came back firing in the second period.
This game could have ended with a wider point differential for Colorado. There were a couple of missed opportunities, but you have to feel for Sam Malinski, who was robbed of his first goal in 37 games when Jonathan Drouin was found to be offside following a coach’s challenge. It was initially a feel-good moment for Malinski, who has been hot and cold lately, but it was all for naught. But the silver lining is that he didn’t let it get to him and fought back to set up Nečas late in the contest for his second goal of the night.
This was a great turnaround for the Avalanche after suffering a tough loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday in a 4-0 shutout.
Next Game:
Tour de Canada continues for the Avalanche. They take on the Edmonton Oilers Friday night at Rogers Place. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. local time.