The Avalanche came into the weekend with the fewest home-ice losses in the NHL this season.
But against Calgary on Saturday night, the Avs played as if they were on the road.
And, at least so far in 2007-08, that means: They stunk.
In a performance that brought occasional boos from the Pepsi Center crowd, and led to Avalanche winger Scott Parker taking a cheap-shot, cross-check to the sternum of Calgary standout defenseman Dion Phaneuf after the game was out of hand, Colorado fell 5-2 to the Flames.
It was even worse than that sounds, since the Avs trailed 4-0 and had only seven shots on Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff through two periods before Joe Sakic and Brad Richardson scored in the third period as Colorado dropped to 9-2 at home.
Matthew Lombardi had a goal and an assist for the Flames, who at 10-10-3 have climbed back in the Northwest Division race and are within two points of the Avalanche.
“They worked hard,” Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said of the Flames. “They were the hardest-working team today, and it showed.”
Sakic’s goal was his first since Oct. 26 (12 games), but he didn’t take much solace from snapping his streak. “This is the first time in a long time that we were embarrassed in our own building,” he said. “Post-lockout, for sure. It was just an unacceptable effort.”
The 34th meeting of the season between the two teams — just kidding; the actual number is five — got testy, and it started during the warm-up, when Phaneuf and Parker made contact as they passed each other at the red line. That brought the teams together near the penalty boxes, but it was mostly yapping and milling around.
But later, with the game out of hand; with Phaneuf playing his usual physical, effective and even chippy game; and after Parker repeatedly tried and failed to goad him into a fight, Parker delivered a cross-check to Phaneuf to the chest.
It came in the corner at the 17:11 mark of the second period. Phaneuf went down and stayed down as Parker loomed over him and pawed at him. Only Phaneuf knows whether he was that stunned.
Regardless, Flames teammate Eric Godard jumped in and took on Parker. Godard drew an instigator minor for the move, plus a fighting major, a 10-minute misconduct and a game-misconduct. Parker drew a major for the cross-check and a major for fighting, plus a game misconduct, and he faces a possible suspension and fine in a league review of the incident.
Parker told Avalanche officials he didn’t want to comment after the game. His coach and captain supported him, though.
“I have no complaints with what he did,” Quenneville said.
Why not?
“The time, the score, the way with what was going on,” he said.
Sakic said Parker “stood up for his teammates. There’s not one guy in this dressing room who played well. We embarrassed ourselves, and Scott tried to do his thing and stick up for his teammates.”
Avs Recap
Three stars
1. Matthew Lombardi. The Flames center had a goal and an assist.
2. Cory Sarich. Had two assists on a night when he and the Calgary defensemen decisively outplayed their Colorado counterparts.
3. Robyn Regehr. Former Avalanche draft choice logged nearly 29 minutes on the blue line for the Flames and was a plus-2.
What you might have missed
Jose Theodore gave up five goals on 32 shots, but he wasn’t the problem.
Up next
Edmonton, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Pepsi Center
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
