Tasked with a back-to-back set to start their season, the Colorado Avalanche couldn’t overcome a four-goal deficit in the third period, falling to the Calgary Flames, 5-3, on Thursday night.
Scoring
1st Period:
Bowen Byram (1), Assists: Devon Toews (2), Nathan MacKinnon (3)
Brett Ritchie (1), Assists: Milan Lucic (1), MacKenzie Weegar (1)
2nd Period:
Dillon Dube (1) (Shorthanded), Assists: Andrew Mangiapane (1)
Rasmus Andersson (1), Assists: MacKenzie Weegar (2)
3rd Period:
Tyler Toffoli (1) (Power Play), Assists: Nazem Kadri (1), Rasmus Andersson (1)
Elias Lindholm (1) (Power Play), Assists: Jonathan Huberdeau (1)
Nathan MacKinnon (1), Assists: Pavel Francouz (1)
Valeri Nichushkin (3) (Power Play), Assists: Mikko Rantanen (5), Artturi Lehkonen (2)
Three takeaways from the contest:
Sleepy Start
Despite opening the scoring less than two minutes into the game, the Avalanche looked like a team that got into Calgary at 3:45 in the morning.
After matching minors made it two minutes of 4-on-4, Bo Byram tallied his first goal of the season, jamming the puck home past Jacob Markstrom.
After that, though, Colorado didn’t offer much offensively in the opening period, being outshot 16-3. The Avalanche found themselves shorthanded twice, but Jared Bednar’s club killed off both minor penalties.
Pavel Francouz was bailed out with a terrific individual effort from Devon Toews to keep Calgary off the board.
However, a defensive breakdown led to Brett Ritchie being left all alone in front of the net, evening the score at one goal apiece.
Of note, Francouz had as many saves (15) in the first period as Alexandar Georgiev had all night in Wednesday’s game.
In-Transition
The Avalanche had unfortunate luck in the second period, seeing the Flames score twice in transition.
The first occurred while Colorado was on the powerplay.
Give credit to Andrew Mangiapane for reading the play and sticking his nose in there to push the puck out of the Calgary defensive zone.
Alex Newhook fell in the process, leading to a 2-on-1 rush for Mangiapane and Dillon Dube. The latter kept the puck himself, firing a rocket past Francouz.
The Flames, who had just two shorthanded goals a year ago, notched their first of the season.
Then later in the period, as the Avalanche’s offensive chances appeared to be coming more frequently, Calgary made it a two-goal game.
After a sustained offensive zone chance on the powerplay, Evan Rodrigues‘ shot as the man advantage expired was blocked.
MacKenzie Weegar corraled the puck and sent a stretch pass up-ice to Rasmus Andersson, who had just left the penalty box, beating Francouz one-on-one.
Third-Period push comes up short
If the Avalanche hadn’t buried themselves early in the third period, they might have very well had an opportunity to leave Calgary with a win.
Before three minutes had passed, Colorado was down 5-1, with goals coming from Tyler Toffoli and Elias Lindholm.
Nathan MacKinnon took matters into his own hands, taking a pass from around the boards up ice and beating Markstrom with a wrist shot glove-side.
The Avalanche closed the gap in shots on goal thanks in part to two powerplay opportunities in the third period.
After converting on 4-of-6 chances in their opener, Colorado had failed to score on their first three powerplays on Thursday.
Valeri Nichushkin changed that, scoring on a well-designed give-and-go with Mikko Rantanen with nine minutes left in regulation, bringing Colorado within two.
However, the deficit proved to be too much, even for this offense.
Up Next: The Avalanche are off until Monday when they travel to Minneapolis for a showdown with the Wild.
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