FLAMES’ TOP GUNS RULE THE NIGHT
Full team effort proves more than enough to combat Avalanche trio
CALGARY 5, COLORADO 3
Wednesday’s game was all about the top lines.
The Calgary Flames’ big three (Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm) versus the big three from the Colorado Avalanche (Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen).
“If you ask us, we’re going to say our (first) line (is better),” Mark Giordano had been saying in the morning at Scotiabank Saddledome. “If you ask them, they’re going to say their line.” It’s true.
The puck had barely dropped before MacKinnon inserted himself into the game with two shots on net, including one on an early power play. At the end of 20 minutes, the Avalanche had 11 shots on net. Landeskog, MacKinnon and Rantanen accounted for nine of them.
As for Calgary’s top line, Lindholm’s power play marker in the second period to make it 3-2 looked like it was going to hold as the game winner until Rantanen scored short-side with 38 seconds left on the clock to make it interesting. Then, with 10 ticks left, Matthew Tkachuk scored an empty netter to seal the deal in a 5-3 victory over the Avalanche.
Heading into this clash, all the focus was on the best two lines in hockey. But there were other pertinent storylines that emerged.
The Flames, fresh off a fourgame road trip which saw them post a 3-1-0 record, had a so-so start, fell off the map for stretches of the game, made mistakes and were outshot 21-11 after two periods (and 35-16 in the end). But with some timely goals, great goaltending from David Rittich and a solid penalty kill which went 4-for-4, they managed to walk away with the win.
Avalanche netminder Semyon Varlamov, returning after missing the last three games with a lower body injury, allowed three goals on nine shots by the second period. Struggling at this point in the season, Colorado — playing the second half of a back-to-back after losing 7-4 in Winnipeg — dropped to 1-5-2 since the Christmas break.
Meanwhile, Calgary continues to prove it is one of the most dominant teams in the NHL with a 28-13-4 record that includes a 13-4-4 mark on home ice.
Gaudreau, who is on a six-game point streak, was credited with two assists when he chipped in on Mikael Backlund’s gameopening marker at the 5:34 mark of the first period, then fed Lindholm for the second period power-play strike.
Mark Jankowski gave the Flames a two-goal lead in the opening frame, which was erased by the end of the period. MacKinnon capitalized on a brain cramp by Monahan, who blindly backhanded the puck in the slot area, which went off Noah Hanifin’s skate while Rantanen and Landeskog hovered.
With 18.4 seconds left in the first, Erik Johnson made it 2-2 by going stick side on Rittich off the rush.
The second period didn’t start any better for the home side.
The Flames had an early power play with Sheldon Dries off for holding and couldn’t score.
Later, Backlund turned over the puck as he tried to exit the zone and Tyson Barrie took advantage, unleashing a slapper on Rittich which he repelled to his left. MacKinnon snapped up the rebound and tried to sneak another one past the Flames netminder, but Rittich made another key stop.
Right after, TJ Brodie took a hooking penalty and gave the visitors some momentum, briefly putting a hold on their own momentum. At that point, the Avalanche were outshooting the Flames 7-0 in the period. Calgary didn’t register a shot on goal until the midway mark of that middle frame.
It didn’t matter. By the time Michael Frolik deflected Giordano’s point shot halfway through the third to go up 4-2, the ice tilted.
The 3M line, by the way, had done its part by shutting down Colorado’s top trio, which had been their mission all evening.
Earlier in the day, Giordano explained the difficulty in this task.
“It’s probably the most impressive thing — teams are going to match against our top line,” Giordano said. “They’re going to give them the hardest matchups. And the other guys on the other side get the hardest matchups night in and night out and figure out a way to produce.”
And it wasn’t just Calgary’s purple Gatorade-drinking trio that produced against the Avalanche.
Giordano, with three assists, moved ahead of Joe Nieuwendyk for eighth in Flames franchise history (including Atlanta) and fifth in Calgary Flames history with 303 career apples.
They also received solid goaltending from Rittich, who stopped 32 shots and improved to 16-4-3 on the season. He is 5-0-1 since the Christmas break.