Avalanche score 3 in 3rd period, rally past Flames

DENVER -- Nathan MacKinnon scored the go-ahead goal on a breakaway at 15:30 of the third period, and the Colorado Avalanche rallied for a 6-5 win against the Calgary Flames at Ball Arena on Monday.

Valeri Nichushkin set up MacKinnon with a feed at the Calgary blue line to cap off a three-goal comeback in the final 9:40 of the third. MacKinnon has 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) during a 12-game point streak.

“Just a quick shot. Surprised him, I think,” MacKinnon said. “Low blocker. I just looked, and yeah, I know I do that high-glove move a lot. So, sometimes goalies, I feel like, lean to the high glove, and I did that move against San Jose last year for my 100th point (on April 4) as well in OT.”

Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, and MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Ross Colton each had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche (17-9-2), who lost five of their previous six games (1-3-2).

Alexandar Georgiev allowed five goals on 22 shots before he was replaced by Ivan Prosvetov at the start of the third. Prosvetov made 11 saves.

“There's a lot of good things in that game tonight. A lot,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “So, if we focus on the right things as a coaching staff, relay the right message to the guys, I would feel that that should give us some belief. It's not easy to score in this league, right? Period. Against anybody. So, we did a nice job of it tonight.

“We got a lot of goals, so that should give us belief that we're able to do that if we do it the right way. So, I would say I'd love to see us be able to come out and repeat our third again in two days (against the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday).”

Nazem Kadri and Blake Coleman each had a goal and an assist for the Flames (11-14-3), who have lost four of five (1-4-0). Dan Vladar made 31 saves.

“We had a tough stretch in the third period there where we made a mistake with the puck, and they got a lot of momentum from that point,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. “So, we weren't able to, I guess, stop the momentum from that point.”

Colton cut it to 5-4 at 11:20 of the third after Josh Manson’s point shot caromed off the skates of Sharangovich and Zary and landed on his stick.

Rantanen ended a nine-game goal drought when he tied it 5-5 at 13:31, deflecting Makar’s shot from the right circle.

Kadri gave Calgary a 1-0 lead at 13:46 of the first period with a wrist shot from beyond the left circle after a giveaway by Rantanen in the neutral zone.

Tomas Tatar tied it 1-1 at 18:14 with his first goal of the season after he sent Colton’s pass from behind the net over Vladar’s blocker.

Makar gave Colorado a 2-1 lead on a power play at 1:43 of the second period, one-timing a centering pass from Rantanen to the far side.

MacKinnon extended his point streak with an assist on Makar's goal.

"I'm doing everything I can to be ready to go off the ice,” MacKinnon said. “Obviously no one sees that stuff, but that's kind of what is making me play well on the ice right now. It's a lot of time and effort, so I'm glad it's paying off.

“Obviously, my job is to lead by example more than anything, and I think Cale and Mikko are all doing the same thing as well.”

Andrew Mangiapane tied it 2-2 at 5:14 with a one-timer from between the circles that beat Gerogiev’s blocker.

Coleman beat Georgiev with a snap shot from above the left circle at 13:21 to give the Flames a 3-2 lead.

“It just wasn't good enough,” Coleman said. “[We] knew they'd push. They're a good team. It's another lead going into a third. There's no business losing that game.”

Ben Meyers tied it 3-3 at 14:57 when he took a pass from Andrew Cogliano inside the right circle and scored with a wrist shot to the far side.

Connor Zary put Calgary back in front 4-3 when he flipped a rebound up in the air and then batted it in at 16:19.

Yegor Sharangovich tapped in a cross-crease pass at 18:34 to make it 5-3 after Noah Hanifin circled the net with the puck.

“Obviously, giving up five isn't great, but I think we can take the positivity out of that game,” MacKinknon said. “No one was deflated. Even after 5-3, we kept pushing and kept a good attitude, and it [was] nice to get that one.”

NOTES: It was Colorado’s first multigoal, third-period comeback win this season. … It’s the sixth time MacKinnon has had a point streak of at least 12 games. He also extended his home point streak to 14 (26 points; nine goals, 17 assists). … Makar scored his 73rd career goal, passing Sandis Ozolinsh for second in franchise history among defensemen. … Meyers was recalled from the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League earlier Monday. … Flames defenseman Chris Tanev left 15 seconds into the game after a hit from Colton. There was no update postgame.