CALGARY — It wasn’t firewagon hockey as much as it was shaky goaltending, but the Avalanche and Calgary Flames at least kept the scoreboard operator busy — and the coaches extremely nervous — Thursday night.
Ultimately, largely thanks to the torrid Chris Stewart’s hat trick, Daniel Winnik’s tie-breaking goal at 17:40 of the third period, and Ryan O’Reilly’s three assists, the Avalanche knocked off the Flames 6-5 in the Saddledome.
The victory, coming on the heels of an overtime loss at Vancouver on Tuesday, was against Flames rookie goalie Henrik Karlsson, who looked nervous in his second NHL start on a night when Calgary coach Brent Sutter rested his workhorse, Miikka Kiprusoff. The Avalanche got its six goals on 36 shots, and Colorado goalie Peter Budaj struggled at the other end, giving up the five Calgary scores on only 19 shots.
“It certainly wasn’t how we dialed it up in our room there, the coaches’ office,” Avalanche coach Joe Sacco said. “But it’s a very big win for us. Three points out of four on this road trip is a lot to be proud of.
“I thought we played well tonight. I thought we generated a lot of chances. We had some timely goal scoring. Stewart continues to play well, and our so-called third line — O’Reilly and Winnik, who came up with a huge goal, and Brandon Yip — (meant) we got a lot of contributions from a lot of different guys tonight. Crazy game, but obviously, we like the outcome.”
Stewart has eight goals for the season, one behind league leader Patrick Sharp of the Chicago Blackhawks.
“We’ve pulled out a lot of wins in this building, but tonight was the icing on the cake,” Stewart said. “It was an emotional roller coaster. It felt great after were down two goals (3-1 in the second period), and it’s good to see a guy like Ryan O’Reilly, who is working his butt off out there, do so much.”
Stewart’s second and third goals, which came on setup passes from O’Reilly and then Matt Duchene, were only 29 seconds apart in the second period and pulled the Avalanche out of that two-goal deficit into a 3-3 tie. The Flames took a 4-3 lead on Olli Jokinen’s goal 18:29 of the second, but Brandon Yip (1:55) and Calgary native TJ Galiardi (6:04) got the third period goals that put Colorado ahead. Former Avs winger Alex Tanguay tied the score at 14:25 of the third, but Winnik got the game-winner with 2:20 left, scoring off the rebound of an O’Reilly shot.
“It was transition and everything,” Winnik said. “It was off a change, and I found a seam and got in the zone, dropped it to O’Reilly and just kept driving the net. The rebound was sitting there for me and I just slid it under (Karlsson).”
Said Galiardi, who scored his third goal of the season: “There were great plays all over the ice. . . . ‘Winnie’ stepped up there at the end with the greasy goal, and ‘Factor’ (O’Reilly) made those big plays all night.”
The Avalanche suited up seven defensemen, and the healthy scratches were center Kevin Porter and winger David Van der Gulik. That meant defenseman David Liffiton — called up from Lake Erie last week — played his first game for Colorado.
When Avalanche defenseman John-Michael Liles went pointless in the game, it ended at nine his league-record streak of games with an assist for a defenseman at the start of the season.
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
Avs Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Chris Stewart.
Avalanche winger had his second career hat trick.
2. Ryan O’Reilly.
“The Factor” had three assists for Colorado.
3. Olli Jokinen.
Flames’ veteran center had a goal and an assist.
What you might have missed
The winner of the Flames Foundation’s 50-50 drawing at the game claimed $28,865. It’s such a big deal, it has gone high tech in the Saddledome: Vendors wander with hand-held credit- card type terminals that spit out tickets, which look a little like restaurant tabs or store receipts. The winner was not from Denver.
Up next
Vs. Columbus, Pepsi Center, Saturday, 7 p.m.
Terry Frei, The Denver Post
