Avalanche storm past Flames with four second-period goals

DENVER-- The Colorado Avalanche scored four goals in a 10-minute span of the second period and defeated the Calgary Flames 5-2 at Pepsi Center on Wednesday.

WATCH: [All Flames vs. Avalanche highlights]
The Avalanche (34-24-5) are one point behind the Anaheim Ducks and St. Louis Blues for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Barrie each had a goal and an assist, and Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves for the Avalanche, who are 3-1-1 in their past five games and 12-1-0 in the past 13 at home.

"We have a deep hunger to get to where we want to go," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "That's what it comes down to."
Michael Frolik and Mikael Backlund scored, and David Rittich made 29 saves for the Flames (32-24-9), who are one point behind Anaheim for the second Western wild card and two points behind the Los Angeles Kings for third place in the Pacific Division.
"We were saying we controlled our own destiny. Now we are getting to that point where if we don't start stringing wins together we are going to need some help," Calgary captain Mark Giordano said.
The Flames took 11 penalties totaling 33 minutes.
"It comes down to discipline, and that starts with me too," Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said. "I didn't react to some of the calls I couldn't get my head around, and I didn't react the right way. I took the bait too."
The Avalanche took a 4-2 lead in 10:18 after falling behind 2-0.
MacKinnon, Nikita Zadorov and Barrie scored 4:17 apart, and Nieto redirected Carl Soderberg's centering pass with 1:18 left in the second.

"I liked the way our guys stuck with it," Bednar said. "We went after them pretty good. We got our forecheck rolling a little bit ... guys played good. It was a good team effort. The penalty kill was great again (5-for-5). We had a lot of guys chipping in."
Frolik scored at 2:41 of the second period to give the Flames a 2-0 lead after Backlund scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 14:19 of the first.
"Having a 2-0 lead, that's when you to try to put them away and then play sound defense," Calgary forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "We let them back in the game right away."
MacKinnon started the comeback when he beat Rittich to the short side from the left circle on a power play at 8:24. It was his 70th point of the season, the first time he has reached that number in his five NHL seasons.
"I felt once we score, we get confident," MacKinnon said. "We have a very positive group, a very hungry young team. I'm not surprised. We do a good job of sticking to the game plan."
Zadorov carried the puck into the left circle and beat Rittich to the far corner at 9:32 to tie the game 2-2. Barrie completed a tic-tac-toe passing play with Mikko Rantanen and MacKinnon at 12:41 for a 3-2 lead.
"It was a great play by Nate and Mikko," said Barrie, who scored from the left of the net. "Mikko made an unbelievable pass to me. I almost skated right by the net. I didn't have a great angle at it, so I was just trying to get it on net. I probably unnecessarily put it upstairs."
Duncan Siemens scored his first NHL goal into an empty net with 17 seconds to play to make it 5-2.
"It was definitely a heartwarming moment for me to see the support of the guys," said Siemens, a 24-year-old defenseman who played his 10th NHL game. "It means a lot when the guys are that excited for me. To get the first one is definitely nice. I'll take it any way I can get it."
The Flames lost leading scorer Johnny Gaudreau to an unsportsmanlike minor for embellishment and a 10-minute misconduct at 8:05 of the third period after he was high-sticked by Blake Comeau, who was given a minor penalty.

Goal of the game

Barrie's goal at 12:41 of the second period.

Save of the game

Varlamov's save on Backlund at 17:25 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Nieto's goal at 18:42 of the second period.

They said it

"It's so hard to make the playoffs in this league, and a bunch of us have been here a long time and only had one crack at it. We don't want it to slip away. We've worked so hard all year to put ourselves in position. At the same time, you look at where we are from last year, so it's not all that pressure of being a top seed." -- Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie
"I think discipline is a big part of it. I think that the last two games we have been in the box a lot and they've been special-teams games. Too many times we are short, but we have had a lot of power plays too, and we're not converting. We are getting our looks and the puck isn't going in." -- Flames captain Mark Giordano

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Need to know

MacKinnon has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in his past five games. ... The Avalanche have scored 16 empty-net goals, a Quebec Nordiques/Colorado record. ... Nieto's goal was his 100th point (46 goals, 54 assists) in 319 NHL games.

What's next

Flames: Host the New York Rangers on Friday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, MSG 2, NHL.TV)
Avalanche: Host the Minnesota Wild on Friday (9 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-N, NHL.TV)