Uphill Battle

Undermanned, the Flames battled to the end but fell 6-2 to the visiting Avalanche Tuesday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Starting netminder Jacob Markstrom was ruled out for the tilt earlier Tuesday afternoon, Dustin Wolf called up from the Wranglers and he backed up Dan Vladar to start the tilt.

Prior to puck drop, it was announced Andrew Mangiapane would not play due to illness and following warmup, Andrei Kuzmenko - who took part in the pregame skate - also was sidelined with an upper-body injury.

So, the Flames iced 11 forwards and seven blueliners - including the newly acquired Nikita Okhotiuk, who made his Flames debut - and had a 2-1 lead after the first period but the visitors would score five in the middle stanza en route to their victory.

Vladar made 29 saves on 35 shots in his 40 minutes of play, Wolf coming in to play the third and stopping all three shots he faced.

The Flames had a 8-3 edge in shots in the final frame but couldn't get any more past Colorado starter Justus Annunen, who finished the evening with 25 saves.

Newcomer Daniil Miromanov scored his first as a Flames, and Walker Duehr also tallied for Calgary.

Mikko Rantanen scored just 2:05 into the game with Martin Pospisil in the box for a slash after a post-whistle scrum. Valeri Nichushkin getting a rebound on the doorstep and passing it cross-crease to Rantanen to tap in.

But the Flames answered back 1:19 later when Miromanov stepped into a howitzer by the blueline, his laser fidning twine just under the bar on the blocker side of Annunen.

Calgary made it 2-1 at 6:46 with just their third shot of the game, Jonathan Huberdeau trying to feed Yegor Sharangovich, Sam Girard blocking the attempt but Duehr right there as the puck dropped near him and he put a backhand farside for his second of the season.

The visitors outshot the Flames 19-9 in the first period, but Calgary held the 2-1 lead after 20 minutes thanks to Vladar’s play.

The Avs scored three times in just over three minutes early in the second period, Josh Manson starting the run before Nathan MacKinnon and Nichushkin both tallied.

Casey Mittelstadt would score at 14:10, with Rantanen rounding out the five-goal frame with a tough-angle tally with 46 ticks left in the second.

The Lineup:

The 11 Flames forwards and seven blueliners for the tilt:

Forwards

Jakob Pelletier - Nazem Kadri - Martin Pospisil

Dryden Hunt - Mikael Backlund - Blake Coleman

Walker Duehr - Kevin Rooney - Matthew Coronato

Jonathan Huberdeau - Yegor Sharangovich

Defence

Oliver Kylington - Rasmus Andersson

MacKenzie Weegar - Daniil Miromanov

Joel Hanley - Brayden Pachal

Nikita Okhotiuk

Goaltenders

Dan Vladar - starter

Dustin Wolf

They Said It:

The Numbers Game:

Shots: CGY 27, COL 38

Powerplay: CGY 0-3, COL 1-4

Faceoffs: CGY 36.8%, COL 63.2%

Blocked Shots: CGY 19, COL 15

Hits: CGY 19, COL 23

5-on-5 Scoring Chances: CGY 20, COL 22

5-on-5 High-Danger Scoring Chances: CGY 9, COL 7

Up Next:

This homestand continues when the Flames host the Golden Knights on Thursday at 7 p.m. (tickets), followed by a 5 p.m. Saturday night tilt with the Canadiens (tickets), and finally a Monday night contest with the Capitals at 6:30 p.m. (tickets).