MacKinnon drives second-period surge for Avalanche in 4-2 win over Flames

Colorado Avalanche goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, left, is knocked into the net as Samuel Girard, right, checks Calgary Flames' Blake Coleman during first period NHL hockey action in Calgary on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

CALGARY — Martin Necas scored twice and had an assist to lead the Colorado Avalanche to a 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday.

Cale Makar collected his 20th goal this season and Artturi Lehkonen also scored for Colorado (32-22-2).

The Avalanche were two points back of the Minnesota Wild for third in the Central division.

Nathan MacKinnon moved back in the NHL points lead with three assists for 83 (20 goals, 63 assists) and was two up on Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl. The two players go head-to-head Friday night.

Jonathan Huberdeau scored his team-leading 21st goal and defenceman Rasmus Andersson also scored for Calgary (26-21-7).

The Flames went into the game tied with the Vancouver Canucks for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Playing in his hometown, Makar was the first defenceman to reach 20 goals this season. He was also the first blue-liner since Brian Leetch (1993-94) produce three 20-goal seasons before his 27th birthday.

He’s also the eighth defenceman in NHL history to record three or more 20-goal campaigns in his first six seasons, joining Paul Coffey (five), Denis Potvin (five), Ray Bourque (four), Bobby Orr (four), Steve Duchesne, Phil Housley and Reed Larson.

Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 27 shots for the win, improved to 13-6-2 since he arrived from the San Jose Sharks in a trade and was 19-15-5-5 this season.

Dustin Wolf stopped 30 shots in his fourth loss in his last five games. The NHL’s rookie of the month in January dropped to 19-11-2.

TAKEAWAYS

Avalanche: MacKinnon’s three assists in the second period was his 18th career three-point period, which moved him past Joe Sakic and Anton Stastny into a tie with Peter Forsberg for the second-most in franchise history behind Peter Stastny (31).

Flames: Huberdeau’s game-opening goal at 3:22 of the first period came on a two-man advantage. That made it three consecutive games with a five-on-three goal for Calgary, which was the first team to accomplish that since the Phoenix Coyotes on Jan. 23-26, 2013 (3 GP). Calgary’s power play has been hot of late going 6-for-17 over the past four games.

KEY MOMENT

Down 1-0 after 20 minutes, Colorado tied it 1:20 into the second period on Makar’s goal. That ignited Colorado’s big second-period push. The Avs took the lead for good four minutes later on Lehkonen’s 22nd goal. The Avs outscored Calgary 3-0 and outshot them 17-3 in the middle period.

KEY STAT

The goal Colorado surrendered on the two-man advantage was just the fourth power play goal they’ve given up in the last 17 games. They’ve killed off 38 of 42 penalties during that stretch.

UP NEXT

Avalanche: Visit the Edmonton Oilers on Friday.

Flames: At home to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2025.

Darren Haynes, The Canadian Press