Rapid Recap: Avalanche 3, Flames 2

CALGARY, Alberta--Andre Burakovsky scored twice on assists from Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche won 3-2 against the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday night.
Colorado led 2-0 after the first period following Burakovsky's tallies at 3:21 and 18:25 of the frame and took a three-goal lead with Vladislav Kamenev's first marker of the season midway through the second period.
J.T. Compher, Joonas Donskoi, Cale Makar and Valeri Nichushkin picked up assists as the Avalanche improved to 5-1-0 in its last six games.
Goaltender Philipp Grubauer returned to the net for the Avs after missing five games with a lower-body injury and stopped 31 shots.

Derek Ryan and Andrew Mangiapane scored for the Flames.
The Avalanche was playing in Calgary for the first time since eliminating the Flames in Game 5 of the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs last spring.
Statistics
|
Photo Gallery
|
Highlights
|
Video: Coach Bednar Postgame

THE GOALS

1st Period
3:21 COL (1-0) - Andre Burakovsky took a cross-ice pass from Nathan MacKinnon and buried a shot top shelf.
18:25 COL (2-0) - After a faceoff win by Nathan MacKinnon, Andre Burakovsky gathered the puck, curled around the right circle and fired a shot far-side for his second goal of the game.
2nd Period
13:15 COL (3-0) - Vladislav Kamenev finished a tic-tac-toe play after cross-ice passes by Valeri Nichushkin and J.T. Compher for his first goal of the season.
17:41 CGY (3-1) - Derek Ryan flipped a shot top shelf for the Flames' first goal in three games
3rd Period
15:44 CGY (3-2) - Andrew Mangiapane cut the Flames' deficit in half with a backhand shot.
Final: Avalanche - 3 | Flames - 2

3 STARS

Selected by Kelly Hrudey of Sportsnet

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 0 for 2
Calgary: 0 for 2

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: After missing five games with a lower-body injury, Philipp Grubauer returned to the lineup and stopped 31 of the 33 shots he faced.
Calgary: David Rittich allowed three goals on 26 shots.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Andre Burakovsky scored two goals in a game for the third time this season. It was also his sixth multi-point performance of the campaign and third in a row (five goals, one assist)… Burakovsky is on a three-game goal streak, tied for the third longest of his career.
With his two-goal performance, the Avalanche has had a multi-goal effort from one of its players in six straight games, a first since the team moved to Colorado. The franchise mark is seven consecutive outings with a player recording at least two goals from Nov. 24-Dec. 10, 1983.
NOTEBOOK
Cale Makar had an assist and now has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in the month of November, surpassing Pierre Lacroix's franchise record for scoring by a rookie defenseman in a single month (12, March 1980)… Makar's 13 points this month are the most by a first-year blueliner in November since 1991-92, when Nicklas Lidstrom had 17 and Vladimir Konstantinov 13 for the Red Wings... Makar now has 23 points (five goals, 18 assists) this season, which ranks second among all NHL defensemen, trailing only Washington's John Carlson (35 points)... Nathan MacKinnon recorded two helpers and now has points in seven consecutive games against the Flames dating back to last year's playoff series (three goals, eight assists)… MacKinnon has recorded a multi-point outing in three of his last four games and has nine points (four goals, five assists) through the first four games of Colorado's current five-game road trip... Vladislav Kamenev registered his first tally of the season. Of his three career goals, two have come against the Flames... Nikita Zadorov played a season-high 21:34... Calgary natives Cale Makar and Logan O'Connor were both playing at Scotiabank Saddledome for the second time in their careers. O'Connor skated in Calgary on Jan. 9, while Makar played Game 5 of last year's playoff series in Alberta on April 19… The Avs are now 2-0-0 in the three-game season series with the Flames. It was the first and only game this year in Calgary, and the clubs wrap up their yearly set on Dec. 9 in Denver… Colorado is 3-1-0 on its five-game road trip. The trip concludes in Minnesota on Thursday.

QUOTABLE

Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar on the win: "We did some good things, capitalized on a few of our opportunities and Grubauer was good when we needed him to be. At this point most of our game's aren't perfect, they aren't pretty, but we're finding out ways to carve out two points and that's the most important thing."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Whoop! Whoop!

ROSTER REPORT

Goaltender Philipp Grubauer was activated from injured reserve and started his first game since Nov. 5 at Dallas… Forward Logan O'Connor made his season debut and skated on a line with Vladislav Kamenev and T.J. Tynan. O'Connor was recalled from the AHL Colorado Eagles on Monday… The Avs recalled forward A.J. Greer and reassigned goalies Antoine Bibeau and Adam Werner to the Eagles on Tuesday… Defenseman Mark Barberio & Greer were scratched… Pierre-Edouard Bellemare missed morning skate and was a game-time decision after being ill earlier in the day, but he was able to play.

INJURY UPDATE

Goaltenders Philipp Grubauer (lower body) and Pavel Francouz (concussion) returned from their respective injuries… Matt Calvert missed his first game of the season with a head injury and returned to Denver over the weekend after being hit by a shot on Saturday in Vancouver… Tyson Jost skated after morning skate but missed his second consecutive contest with an upper-body injury… Gabriel Landeskog (out indefinitely), Mikko Rantanen (week-to-week) and Colin Wilson (day-to-day) all remain in Colorado as they each recover from lower-body injuries.

UP NEXT

The Avalanche is finished with the Western Canada swing of its five-game road trip and wraps up the trek on Thursday at the Minnesota Wild. It is the second of five meetings this season between Colorado and Minnesota, with the Avs winning 4-2 in the opening contest on Oct. 5 at Pepsi Center.
Colorado's five-game trip is its second of three road trips this season of at least five games. It is just the second time in franchise history that the Avalanche will have three road trips of at least five games (also 1999-00).

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on start of the game
Forwards
95 Andre Burakovsky - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 72 Joonas Donskoi
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 91 Nazem Kadri - 37 J.T. Compher
83 Matt Nieto - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 12 Jayson Megna
36 T.J. Tynan - 81 Vladislav Kamenev - 25 Logan O'Connor
Defensemen
49 Samuel Girard - 6 Erik Johnson
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
16 Nikita Zadorov - 28 Ian Cole
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
39 Pavel Francouz