CALGARY — Not one. Not two. Not three. Not four.
But five. In one period.
Everything was going so well for the Avalanche. They overcame a sluggish first period and catapulted to a 4-1 lead by the end of the second. Rookie forwards Sheldon Dries and Vladislav Kamenev scored their first NHL goals. Then, there’s the significance of the four goals themselves.
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Each tally was a result of secondary scoring. It was proof, at least for one game, that the Avalanche can score in bunches without relying upon Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen.
And then came the maelstrom. Ian Cole’s hit on Calgary’s Mark Jankowski resulted in the Colorado defenseman taking three penalties, including a game misconduct near the end of the second period.
The Flames opened the third with a power-play goal to trim the Avalanche’s lead to 4-2.
The Flames scored again to cut the lead to 4-3.
The Flames scored again to tie the game and take what was a crypt-like Scotiabank Saddledome and turned it into a powder keg waiting to explode.
The Flames scored again for a 5-4 lead.
The Flames scored again for a 6-4 lead.
Five consecutive unanswered goals. Colorado coach Jared Bednar watched his team grab a late goal. But it hardly mattered in the grand scheme of things in a 6-5 loss Thursday. The Avalanche had a chance to open their two-game swing through western Canada with a win before traveling to Vancouver to face the Canucks on Friday.
Now? They’ve lost two in a row and three of their last four.
“Well, we played like shit in the first period. We’re lucky that it wasn’t as bad as it could have been,” Avalanche defenseman and alternate captain Erik Johnson said. “Second, we were a little bit better and in the third, we were even worse. Turn the puck over like we did, you don’t deserve to win the game.”
NaturalStatTrick backs up Johnson’s sobering assessment of how the Avalanche performed in the opening frame.
The Flames continually took several shots in the slot with many of those chances coming in the low slot or point-blank chances right in front of the net. Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov, as he’s done at times this year, buoyed those miscues by turning away all 13 shots he faced to keep it tied at 0-0 going into the first intermission.
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Varlamov stopped 12 of the 13 attempts he encountered in the second, but the burden was somewhat lessened. Kamenev and Dries both scored in the opening five minutes of the period. Mikael Backlund trimmed it to 2-1, but goals from Colin Wilson and Carl Soderberg padded the lead to 4-1.
So what could go wrong? Try everything.
“Lack of detail,” said Bednar, who normally expands on his postgame answers regardless of the outcome. “Lack of commitment. Simple.”
Cole’s ejection was the first domino to fall. Jankowski was exiting the Flames’ zone with the puck when Cole leveled him near the blue line. Sam Bennett retaliated by getting into a fight with Cole. Both were separated about 15 seconds later and Cole was assessed with a five-minute major for charging, a five-minute major for fighting and a 10-minute game misconduct.
Losing Cole did more than drop the Avalanche down to five defensemen.
“Huge,” is the first word Bednar used when describing the impact Cole’s absence had on his blue line. “He’s been our best defender to this point in the season, besides our goaltending. It’s a good hit. It’s a clean hit. They get their second goal out of that and we, to make it worse, it’s called as a five-minute major and we lose our top defender for the remainder of the game.
“I believe, that’s not the reason we lost, that penalty, but certainly missing Ian in the third period is a big factor too.”
Bednar wasn’t done.
“It doesn’t make up for what everyone else was doing,” he said.
Cole’s value was further highlighted on a night like this. He’s a shutdown defenseman who serves a primary piece on Bednar’s penalty-killing unit. The former Notre Dame star was signed as a free agent to a three-year, $12.75 million deal over the summer because he occupies the low slot and can diminish the amount of successful looks an opposing team will receive on net.
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Two of the Flames’ goals came in the low slot while five of their total tallies came between the faceoff circles and middle of the slot. Elias Lindholm’s power-play goal was taken from the left point, but Matthew Tkachuk shielded Varlamov to limit his visibility.
“I think we’d love to have Colesy back there. He’s a great defender and a veteran guy,” Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie said. “He brings a calming presence back there but, I mean, we got a three-goal lead with one period to play. We’re all good players in here. There’s absolutely no excuse we should give up five goals. We weren’t sharp in our systems at all.”
The Avalanche failed to clear and that allowed the Flames to work the puck around, which resulted in Sean Monahan finding a spot in front of net. Noah Hanafin’s attempt was tipped by Monahan, who slipped past Mark Barberio and Alexander Kerfoot to make it 4-3.
Avalanche forward Matt Calvert tried carrying the puck to exit his team’s one when a check from Juuso Valimaki near the point freed up possession. Flames star winger Johnny Gaudreau immediately recovered to give Calgary an instant odd-man rush with Varlamov only a few feet away.
Johnson extended his stick for a poke check, but by that point, Gaudreau fed it to James Neal, who dropped to his left knee for a vicious one-timer and a 4-4 tie.
“I think the whole game we were bad. We weren’t sharp in our systems,” Barrie said. “We had an OK second period and had some goals from some guys. … We were poor all night. Zone forecheck, neutral zone, D-zone, it was all bad. We left Varly out to dry. It’s an embarrassing one, that’s on us.”
Calgary’s go-ahead goal was the result of Mark Giordano firing a strong shot that beat Varlamov, as opposed to a systematic breakdown.
Michael Frolik’s goal, however, did come about because the Avalanche were caught off guard. The Avs were trying to mount a three-man rush through the natural zone when defenseman T.J. Brodie played the puck off the boards and it created a 2-on-1 for the Flames.
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Tkachuk, who finished with three points, had Samuel Girard on an island before he made the pass. Girard tried anticipating the feed by getting low in his stance, but his stick did not extend nearly far enough to disrupt the delivery headed Frolik’s way for a one-timer and a 6-4 edge.
Fifteen minutes. In the time it takes to save on car insurance, that’s how long it took for the Flames to hand the Avalanche their most improbable defeat of the season.
“I just think we played like shit in the third period and hung our goalie out to dry,” Johnson said. “Had numerous opportunities to get the puck out and we didn’t it. They put it in the back of the net and made us pay.”
Colorado’s dressing room is typically a quieter, more mellow environment. Especially on the road. Players are quick to get undressed, meet with reporters and then hop in the shower before jumping on the team bus and heading to the airport.
There was still a quiet element, but it was more hushed than normal. Barberio, Barrie and Johnson were among the number of Avalanche players who spoke to the media. Dries and Kamenev did as well, but the aftermath of losing a three-goal lead tarnished what was slated to be a memorable night.
Barrie and Johnson were beyond honest in their assessments.
Was this the worst performance the Avalanche have had all year as a defense?
“As a team, yeah,” Barrie said. “Our team defense was horrible.”
Johnson said losing Cole did hurt, but that still was not a viable excuse.
“You gotta be better than that,” Johnson said. “You can’t let that happen just because you lose a guy. You know, we were horrible in the first, we were a little better in the second and bad again in the third. We didn’t deserve to win the game. Bottom line.”
Bednar, with cameras and microphones surrounding him, was told on live television by a reporter about Johnson saying the team “played like shit” and was then asked if this was the worst defensive performance he’s seen from his team all year.
“Yeah, for sure it is,” Bednar said. “Five goals in the third period. Bad habits. Circling away from the puck. Not facing the puck. Lack of commitment. Lack of detail. Like I said. That’s as simple as I can put it.”
(Photo of Semyon Varlamov making a save: Sergei Belski / USA TODAY Sports)