The Avalanche and Flames skated out to a 1-1 score following the first period of play, but the Flames held an eventual 15-3 shot advantage.
Colorado drew the first strike at just 1:39 into the game and with 4-on-4 play as a result of matching penalties on Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson going to the box for slashing and Dube taking a slashing penalty. Shortly after the play resumed, Byram collected a pass from Devon Toews as he entered the offensive zone. The 21-year-old blueliner turned on the jets and charged into the slot where he snuck the puck past Markstrom for the game's icebreaker and the Avalanche's first shot of the game.
Backed by their home crowd in their season opener, Calgary upped its play as they began to test Francouz and outshot the Avalanche 5-1. Colorado's Czech netminder was in position to make a goal line save, but was helped out by Toews as Flames forward Toffoli attempted to bury the puck on the backdoor.
Calgary's push finally broke through at 11:23 as Milan Lucic set up Ritchie for an easy tap-in. From below the hash marks, Lucic sent a puck to the slot where an all alone Ritchie tapped the puck past Francouz for the 1-1 equalizer.
Calgary took its first lead of the game early in the second period on a shorthanded strike and furthered its lead late in the period with another goal to take a 3-1 lead heading into the final frame.
The Avalanche received a power play 54 seconds into the period as Noah Hanafin was called for holding on Nathan MacKinnon. Colorado's power play, which went 4-for-6 last night in the home opener against Chicago, struggled to set up and maintain puck control. Instead, the Flames forechecked the puck and countered with a rush between Dube and Andrew Mangiapane. As Dube took the puck up ice with a backchecking Toews as the lone Avalanche defender, Dube ripped his shot from inside the left faceoff circle and past Markstrom to give the Flames a 2-1 lead at 2:31.
Colorado went on the power play at 12:42 after MacKinnon and Mikael Backlund each took negating roughing penalties and Andersson took a roughing penalty also on MacKinnon during a netfront scrum. The Avalanche nearly converted on their man advantage, but Markstrom made a highlight reel goal line stick save to hold off an attempted backdoor tap in by Mikko Rantanen with 6:40 on the clock.
Instead, the Flames made the most of their next opportunity as Andersson and Backlund exited the box. Newly acquired Flames defenseman MacKenzie Weegar sprung Andersson up the ice for a breakaway as he left the penalty box. Andersson took Francouz on and slipped his shot five-hole through the pads of the Avalanche netminder to give Calgary a 3-1 lead.
Erik Johnson took a cross checking penalty late in the second period at 19:21 and the Flames converted on their power play to take a 4-1 lead. Calgary's man advantage went to work and executed a tic-tac-toe passing sequence with Andersson and Nazem Kadri which concluded with Toffoli tapping the puck in from the netfront past Francouz at 1:12 in the third period.
On the Flames' power play, Cale Makar took a high-sticking penalty at 1:12, which resulted in Colorado having to go on back-to-back penalty kills. The Flames' power play once again converted, this time with a strike from Lindholm. From the doorstep, Huberdeau held onto the puck to pull Francouz out of position then threaded his pass into the slot for Lindholm to convert at 2:47 and extend Calgary's lead 5-1.
The Avalanche trimmed their deficit down 5-2 shortly after Calgary's second power-play strike as MacKinnon picked up a pass from Francouz - who recorded his first-career NHL assist - along the boards, turned and jetted up ice where he stickhandled and then unleashed a quick shot past Markstrom for his first goal of the 2022-23 season at 3:08.
Colorado converted on a quick strike at 11:01 on a slick passing sequence with Artturi Lehkonen, Rantanen and Nichushkin. From below the hash marks, Rantanen fed his pass to the slot where Nichushkin swooped in and beat Markstrom to cut the Avalanche's deficit down to 5-3.
