Postgame: Power Play Shines As Avalanche Blow Out Flames 9-2
· Yahoo Sports
An outburst of early first-period goals was enough for the Avalanche to put away the lowly Calgary Flames on Monday. Colorado scored four in the opening 9:19 and five in the first period, on its way to a 9-2 triumph over the Calgary Flames at Ball Arena.
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This puts an end to the Avs’ four-game losing streak on home ice. Colorado still has two more meetings remaining against the No. 31-ranked Flames.
“The last maybe six or seven games, we’ve had a high expected goal for, and we’ve left with only one, two, or three goals,” forward Parker Kelly said. “So to have a night like this and to get rewarded with nine, I think is obviously a really nice feeling.”
Nazem Kadri scored two early power-play goals against his former team. Jack Drury, Gabe Landeskog, Parker Kelly, Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas, Sam Malinski, and Artturi Lehkonen also scored for the Avalanche, who improved to 49-14-10 on the season and gained an eight-point lead on the Dallas Stars for the top seed in the Central Division with a game in hand.
Cale Makar recorded three assists while Brock Nelson, MacKinnon, Necas, Drury, and Kelly each had two helpers. Lehkonen and Malinski also had one each to finish with multi-point games. Scott Wedgewood made 27 saves in goal to earn his 27th win of the season.
Unfortunately for the Avs, Makar suffered an upper-body injury at some point during the second period. He did not play in the third.
“Went out to get evaluated. We’ll know more tomorrow,” head coach Jared Bednar said.
The scoring barrage came quickly, and it was largely because the Avs started throwing pucks on net right from the get-go. When Drury scored the opener at 2:31, it was on their fifth shot on goal. Less than three minutes later, Brayden Pachal took a penalty, and 40 seconds into that power play, Blake Coleman took a slashing minor.
The Avs had 1:20 of a 5-on-3 power play to work with, and they made the most of it. First, Makar made a pass to Necas, who sent it from left to right to Kadri for the goal. The power play continued at 5-on-4, and Kadri added a second goal 1:04 later, doubling his goal total from two to four since rejoining the Avs a little over three weeks ago.
Colorado wasn’t done yet.
Landeskog added another at 9:17 off a beautiful feed from Nelson, before Kelly notched his 18th of the season at 15:50 to blow the game completely out of reach. The Flames replaced starter Dustin Wolf with backup Devin Cooley after the fourth goal. He faced a whopping 16 shots in nine minutes before getting yanked. Cooley surrendered five goals on 33 shots the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, the Avalanche’s power play was 3-for-4.
“We’ve been rolling on the PP, so certainly we feel like we can go out there on any given power play and score big goals,” Kadri said. “When you have that swagger and that confidence, I think it starts to grow.”
The Avs let up just a little bit to start the second. And understandably so. They had just four shots in the first 15 minutes of the second period before a late power play goal from MacKinnon, his 49th of the season, re-established a five-goal lead.
In the third, goals from Necas, Lehkonen, and Malinski gave them their ninth game with nine or more goals since the team relocated from Quebec in 1995.
Good: Won It Early
No lead is technically safe in hockey, but you have to imagine the Avalanche were feeling pretty good about getting the win after scoring five goals in the first period. Bednar was able to role his lines for the rest of the night to keep everyone loose, fresh, and rested.
Given that the Avs have two more Calgary games remaining and a matchup against Vancouver on Wednesday, you have to take advantage of the teams at the bottom of the standings as much as possible. Get the points you need to secure the No. 1 seed once and for all without having to overtax your top guys to get there.
Bad: Awaiting A Makar Update
In games like this, especially when the lead grows so quickly, the hope is to exit without any injuries. The Avs were unfortunately unable to do that.
Makar’s absence could’ve been precuationary, but it doesn’t sound like that’s entirely the case. At least Bednar didn’t admit as much. As of right now, all we know is, he sustained an upper-body injury at some point and was unable to come out for the third.
My colleague Evan Rawal was able to find the hit that could be what caused it.
Makar laboring a bit on his next shift. Took the next PP shift and that was it. Avs are off tomorrow. https://t.co/ADOAyrv2LDpic.twitter.com/SQtnXmefA2
— Evan Rawal (@evanrawal) March 31, 2026
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