Avalanche top Flames on Boedker's shootout goal

CALGARY -- Mikkel Boedker scored the only goal in the shootout to give the Colorado Avalanche a come-from-behind 4-3 win against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday.
Erik Johnson, Tyson Barrie, Carl Soderberg scored, and Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves for the Avalanche (37-31-4), who overcame a 3-1 deficit to move three points ahead of the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. The Wild have a game at hand.

"It was huge. It was really, really big," Boedker said. "That gives you just slightly more breathing room. You can't take anything for granted, but the more points you can gain when they aren't playing the better. We can't rely on anybody else to do it for us. We have to do it ourselves. I think that's the way we look at it."
Boedker raced in and beat Joni Ortio with a backhand in the second round of the tiebreaker. Varlamov ended the game by stopping Sean Monahan's wrist shot in the third round.
"Just coming in with speed and hoping the goaltender bites on your fake shot and brought it to the backhand," Boedker said. "It was one of those things that felt really good, and it's going to go a long way confidence-wise."
Matt Stajan, Mark Giordano and Freddie Hamilton scored, and Ortio made 25 saves for the Flames (30-35-6), who finished 3-1-2 on their six-game homestand.
"I felt this homestand we played some very good games," Calgary coach Bob Hartley said. "I like what I saw from our guys. We're experiencing some young kids in the lineup and they're doing well. Our veterans are leading by example. They're bringing in great performances, plus also some very good leadership. It's good."

Soderberg tied the game 3-3 with a goal at 9:11 of the third period. Ortio stopped Shawn Matthias on back-to-back chances during a scramble, but Soderberg picked up the puck and scored his 12th of the season.
"We just came in after the second and said that we can feel sorry for ourselves or go out and play hard and have a great period," Johnson said. "We played really well. Tied it up late there and got it to a shootout. Just a huge win, but a little separation between ourselves."
Stajan gave the Flames a 1-0 lead midway through the first, and Johnson tied the game 1-1 at 17:19.
Colorado survived two shorthanded goals against on the same power play in the second.
With Deryk Engelland in the penalty box for delay of game, Lance Bouma forced a turnover in the neutral zone on a botched drop pass between Barrie and Nathan MacKinnon. Josh Jooris gained the zone and passed to Giordano, who beat Varlamov with a shot over the blocker at 5:17 for a 2-1 lead.
With Engelland still in the box, Bouma retrieved an errant pass before sliding the puck to Hamilton for a tap-in at 5:47 to put Calgary up 3-1.
"It was one bad shift where they got two shorthanded goals, which shouldn't happen on a power play but it happens," Boedker said. "We still felt we were in the game and we still felt like we were within reach of winning the game. When you stick with it, you have good goaltending, and you keep on fighting good things kind of happen."

The goal was Hamilton's first as a member of the Flames and second of his NHL career. His first goal came as a member of the Avalanche in 2014-15.
"It's pretty weird how it came against them," Hamilton said. "I guess I wasn't there for too long, so it doesn't feel that strange playing against them. I'm just trying to make my mark up here and trying to make a good first impression, so it definitely felt good."
The Flames' record for the fastest two shorthanded goals was set Oct. 17, 1989, when Doug Gilmour and Paul Ranheim scored four seconds apart against the Quebec Nordiques. The Flames had two shorthanded goals in their first 67 games, but have scored five in the past four games; they've allowed two power-play goals in the same span.
"The last two, three weeks, I've really liked our pressure, the way we can really squeeze the opponents around our blue line," Hartley said. "They run out of room and without cheating the game we're on our toes and we're using our speed to create offense. Those were two great goals

Barrie cut the lead to 3-2 at 8:33 with a shot from the boards that deflected off Giordano before getting behind Ortio.
"I think it was a big goal for them," Giordano said. "That sort of killed our momentum a little bit and gets them right back into the game. You give them credit; they're a desperate team and that was a hard-fought game."
Avalanche defenseman Eric Gelinas left the game with 4:06 remaining in the second period because of a shoulder injury and did not return. Gelinas appeared to be injured on a hit by Flames forward Garnet Hathaway.
Colorado was also without forwards Matt Duchene, who is day-to-day with a knee injury, and Gabriel Landeskog, who was serving the third of a three-game suspension for cross-checking Anaheim Ducks defenseman Simon Despres.