Post-Game: An Avalanche of bounces

With the holiday break behind them, the Calgary Flames seemingly got a gift from the schedule makers in the form of a date with the Colorado Avalanche. The Flames were a bit late to show up to this one, but they managed to create offense by hook or crook and came away with a much closer than it needed to be 6-3 victory in Denver.

The first period looked like a game between two teams that had three days off; lots of icings, off-sides and missed passes for both clubs. The Sportsnet crew repeatedly reminded the viewing public that the Flames flew into Denver this morning, but Colorado looked just as jet-lagged.

Calvin Pickard was the best player for Colorado in the first, but the Avs managed to open the scoring late in the period. Gabriel Landeskog sniped a really nice shot that beat Elliott high glove side off the rush; the defenders swarmed Nathan MacKinnon as he skated into the Flames zone, giving Landeskog a little bit of breathing room. Shots were 9-5 Calgary.

The Flames were better and much more crisp in the second period – actually connecting on passes – but Colorado were the victims of plenty of rough bounces. 93 seconds into the period, the Flames drew even in a familiar way: the 3M Line scored. Mikael Backlund skated in and attempted to feed a pass to Matthew Tkachuk in the slot. It bounced off of Fedor Tyutin’s leg and beat Pickard.

Midway through the period, after a power play that had good puck movement and many chances (but zero goals), Sam Bennett deflected a Deryk Engelland point shot…that also bounced off Francois Beauchemin and past Pickard to make it 2-1.

The 3-1 goal, credited to Johnny Gaudreau, was utter chaos:

Future first ballot Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla made it 3-2 for the Flames off a nice one-timer from just inside the blueline. Between the velocity and some traffic in front, Elliott didn’t have much chance to react. However, the Flames made it 4-2 before the period’s end as Backlund got his second of the game after a penalty kill. Dougie Hamilton fed the puck to Backlund, and the puck careened off Pickard and Beauchemin (again) and into the net. Shots were 15-11 Calgary.

The Flames extended their lead midway through the third off a really nice sequence involving Kris Versteeg and Gaudreau; Versteeg made a nice drop pass and Gaudreau scored to make it 5-2.

Landeskog scored another off a nice individual stick-handling effort, but Versteeg added another to make it 6-2 and close things out. Shots were 10-7 Colorado in the final frame.

Let’s get one thing out of the way: Colorado’s just not very good. They were decent in spurts, but they really lacked consistency.

For their part, the Flames were both good and lucky. They got bounces, but they out-played the Avalanche for the majority of the game. The Avalanche really had no answer for the 3M Line or the Gaudreau line once the second period began.

You gotta feel a bit bad for Pickard; he was really sharp for the majority of the game yet still got tagged with six goals against.

Gaudreau’s first goal, a product of a series of miscues, bounces and some wonderful puck luck for the Flames, put the road side up by a pair. Colorado was completely back on their heels and never fully recovered.

Let’s go with Backlund. He had two goals, including the eventual game-winner, an assist, and he came up huge on a late second period five-on-three kill.

Backlund left the game early in the third period. He blocked a shot during a five-on-three penalty kill late in the second period, even clearing the zone while in some immense pain. He came out for the third, but never took a shift in the period.

The Flames (19-16-2) head home tonight. They practice tomorrow afternoon and return to game action with a big Pacific Division battle with the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night at the Saddledome.