Colorado loses game, and ground, to Calgary
FLAMES 5, AVALANCHE 1
CALGARY, ALBERTA» Two days before the NHL trade deadline, the Avalanche on Saturday fell further out of the playoff picture with a 5-1 loss to the Flames that completed a three-game, western Canada road trip.
The silver lining: Colorado completed a 16-game stretch that had it playing 13 games on the road. The Avs now begin a four-game homestand and play five-of-seven at the Pepsi Center. They are 20-8-1 at home, winners of 10 of their last 11.
There is optimism, because of the schedule and because they are just four points out of the playoffs with 21 games left.
“We know that we’ve been playing well at home, doing well at the Pepsi Center. But we can’t really take that for granted,” Avs captain Gabe Landeskog said after Saturday’s game. “We’ve got to make sure we get home and put some streaks together, because we know how important it could be.”
The Flames scored only 18 seconds into Saturday’s game and led 2-0 within the first eight
minutes and 3-1 after two periods. Colorado finished 1-1-1 on the trip but led just once, when it scored in overtime to defeat Vancouver 4-3 on Tuesday.
Not long ago, the Avs were brilliant in scoring first and maintaining leads. They won 10 consecutive games with that formula.
“It’s tough — playing catch-up hockey is losing hockey, generally,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “We give them one the first shift of the game and then we’re kind of chasing it.”
The Avs (32-24-5) slipped to four points behind Calgary (3222-9) in the Western Conference playoff hunt, with the Flames jumping a point ahead of idle St. Louis (34-24-4) for the last wild- cart slot.
Colorado, which has two games in hand over the Flames, is six points behind idle Minnesota (3420-7) in the Central Division playoff race. The Avs and Wild have each played 61 of 82 games.
Colorado likely won’t be a player before Monday’s trade deadline. General manager Joe Sakic said his team will “stay the course,” and Landeskog seems fine with that.
“I don’t really expect anything,” he said. “We have a job to do here as a group and that’s where our focus is. If it’s something to improve our team, so be it.
“I trust the management to deal with it. They know what’s best for the team.”
The Avs, who received a lucky goal off a dump-in by Nathan Mackinnon to get within 2-1 late in the first period Saturday, fell to 12-16-4 on the road.
They went 6-8-2 in this treacherous 16-game stretch, playing the last three games without No. 1 defenseman Erik Johnson (upperbody injury).