CALGARY, Alberta — Let’s split.
The Avalanche departs Calgary with a split in the first two games of their seven-game series against the Flames.
scored with a wicked wrist shot 8:27 into overtime late Saturday night to give the Avalanche a 3-2 victory in Game 2 at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
“I put it where I wanted to,” said MacKinnon, who played a season-high 24:00 through regulation and 26:26 overall. “I felt fresh. That’s why I take care of myself, so I can play in OT.”
MacKinnon ended it after he and his teammates killed off an cross-checking minor 2:09 into OT.
Despite the need for OT, it was a dominating performance by the Avs, who had 82 shot attempts to Calgary’s 46 through regulation. Puck possession was similarly as lopsided.
Nathan MacKinnon, Game 2 hero, talks about tying series 1-1 and
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers)
The Avs forced overtime with ‘s goal at 17:21 of the third period and goalie on the bench for a sixth attacker. Seconds earlier, Colorado coach called his timeout and drew up a play off the offensive-zone faceoff. won the draw and Compher ultimately scored on Landeskog’s rebound.
“We had the confidence after regulation, tying it up late. We thought we played a really good game for 60 minutes,” Compher said. “We just had to continue to do that and we’d get our chances. We just had to bury one, and Nate stepped up in the biggest moment of the year, just like we knew he would.”
Flames center Sean Monahan scored from the low slot with 7:33 remaining in the third period to give the hosts a 2-1 lead. Monahan turned and fired in front of Avs defensemen after picking up a loose puck off a blocked shots by Sam Bennett and Johnny Gaudreau. Grubauer didn’t have much of a chance on a shot that beat him high to the glove side.
The Avs dominated possession and had the Flames on their heels most of the game. But Colorado went 0-for-4 on the power play and shot high or wide far too many times. The Avs also hit the iron around goalie Mike Smith multiple times. It seemed as if Smith, who stopped 26 shots in Game 1’s 4-0 shutout, was in their heads.
Nonetheless, Avs coach Jared Bednar said he wants to “bottle up” the performance and save it for Game 3 and beyond.
“You have to challenge other teams and force them into mistakes. The other night we didn’t do that. Tonight we did,” Bednar said. “We had confidence to hang on to the puck, to skate with it, to move the puck and hit the open man and we were patient with it. It’s exactly the way we wanted to play and our guys were outstanding, buying into the game plan and executing the game plan.”
Jared Bednar
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers)
Colorado took a 1-0 lead with a shorthanded goal from early in the second period before the Flames tied it on the power play shortly thereafter.
Nieto’s breakaway goal at 7:16 of the second period came after had two scoring chances on the same penalty kill, the latter generated by . But the Avs couldn’t sustain the lead, and couldn’t stay out of the penalty box. Derick Brassard took his third infraction of the game at 11:38 of the second period and the Flames tied it on the power play within the next minute.
Bennett made a back-door pass while falling to the ice and defenseman Rasmus Andersson one-time the puck into a half-open net from the opposite side. Brassard was in the box for tripping, a penalty he argued to no avail. He committed a matching roughing minor with Smith and slashing on Oscar Fantenberg in the first period.
Colorado held the play from the get-go, outshooting the Flames 15-10 in the first period. Landeskog had a breakaway midway through but failed to slide the puck between Smith’s legs.
Through two periods, Calgary had blocked 19 shots to Colorado’s four — a testament to the Avs’ possession advantage and commitment to shoot more than Game 1.
Footnotes. Because of the 8:30 p.m. start and international travel, the Avalanche will remain in Calgary and return to Colorado on Sunday morning. The Avs won’t practice before Monday’s morning skate ahead of Game 3. … Following Saturday’s morning skates, Calgary coach Bill Peters joked about how much time he has on his hands before the 8:30 p.m. start. But then Peters commented on how the series is easy to prepare for, with games every other day and the first four games beginning at 8 or 8:30 p.m. Start times for Game 5, 6 and 7, if necessary, have yet to be announced.
