Postgame Notes & Quotes Colorado Avalanche 5, Calgary Flames 2 Wednesday, February 28, 2018
The Avalanche improved to 22-8-1 on home ice this season and has won 12 of its last 13 contests at Pepsi Center, outscoring opponents 48-21 during that stretch. Colorado is averaging 3.55 goals-per-game at home, which ranks fifth in the league.
Nathan MacKinnon notched his 21st multi-point game of the season, the most since Matt Duchene had 21 during the 2013-14 campaign. He’s registered 51 points (21g, 30a) in 29 home games this season (1.76 points per game), which leads the NHL in scoring at home and is the most points by an Avalanche player on home ice since Joe Sakic had 52 in 2006-07.
MacKinnon’s marker came on the power play, giving him a team-high 10 man- advantage tallies in 2017-18, which is tied for seventh in the league. He’s tied for seventh in the league in total points with 71 (29g, 42a), which is the most by an Avalanche player since Paul Stastny recorded 79 in 2009-10.
Colorado finished 5-for-5 on the penalty kill and is 91-for-98 (92.9%) on the kill at home this season, the league’s top-ranked home penalty-kill unit. The Avs have allowed a league-low seven power-play goals on home ice in 2017-18.
Matt Nieto recorded his 100th career point. He now has 11 markers on the season, a new career high (10 goals, 2013-14 and 2014-15).
Duncan Siemens notched his first NHL goal. His first NHL point, an assist on February 24, also came against the Flames.
Tyson Barrie notched his third game-winning goal of the season, which matches Erik Johnson for the most game winners by an Avalanche defenseman this season. It’s the most game winners for Barrie since scoring five in 2015-16. He has 16 career game- winning-goals, the most by a defenseman in franchise history.
The Avs’ top line of Gabriel Landeskog (12g, 17a), MacKinnon (21g, 30a) and Rantanen (15g, 25a) has combined for 120 points (48g, 72a) at home this season.
Colorado’s four goals in the second period matches a season high for goals in a single frame (5x, last: Dec. 31 vs. New York Islanders, 2nd period).
The Avalanche now has 16 empty-net goals this season, which leads the league and is the most by the Avs in a single season in franchise history.
Blake Comeau and Carl Soderberg recorded their fourth and seventh multi-point games, respectively. Their line, along with Nieto, totaled five points (1g, 4a) tonight.
Nathan MacKinnon has combined for 17 shots on goal in his last two outings (9, Feb. 26 vs. Vancouver, 8 tonight).
Wednesday’s contest wraps up the season series with Calgary. Colorado finished 1-2- 0 against the Flames.
Colorado D Duncan Siemens On His First Career NHL Goal: “It was kind of a lucky bounce. I was just trying to make sure that I got it out and I was trying to kill it, just make sure that we get the change, protect the lead, and it just so happened to go in.”
On Sticking With The Game Plan: “I think that was one of the keys to our success tonight. We just stuck with it. We rolled the highs and lows, we were able to take advantage. You know, MacK (Colorado C Nathan MacKinnon) scored a huge goal to get us going and from that point on, we just kept going.”
Colorado D Tyson Barrie On Tonight’s Game: “I think in the first, we made a few mistakes but we were playing hard and we knew how much this game meant. In the second period, we just kind of stuck with it and got rewarded and buried some opportunities.”
On His Goal: “It was a great play by Nate (Colorado C Nathan MacKinnon) and Mikko (Colorado RW Mikko Rantanen). Mikko made an unbelievable pass to me. I almost skated right by the net. I thought, ‘You know what, I might stop here just in case’ and Mikko made a great pass. I didn’t have a great angle at it so I was just trying to get it on net and probably unnecessarily put it upstairs.”
Colorado LW Matt Nieto On The Avs’ Power-Play Goal Giving The Team Momentum: “That power play did a good job of getting us going there and giving us a little momentum. After that, I think line-after-line, we were going out there and putting together good shifts and it related to goals so it was a good period.”
On The Avs’ Penalty Kill: “We need our penalty kill to be consistent down the stretch here. They have a good power play over there, a lot of skilled guys, so we just tried to take time and space away from them. Varly (Colorado G Semyon Varlamov) did a good job of making saves when we needed them. Our PK has got to stay strong here.”
Calgary LW Matthew Tkachuk On The Second Period: “We weren’t playing very well in the second period to begin with, and power-play goal from me taking a holding penalty behind the goal line. They get one, and then we have a shift or two before they score their next one. We just took too many penalties tonight, myself included. I put them on the power play twice. It’s unacceptable. You obviously expect a lot of great things from our team and having a 2- 0 lead, that’s when you want to put them away, maybe get one after. At least play sound defensively and try to limit their chances, and we let them kind of right back into the game”
On The Team’s Composure: “My penalty at the beginning of the third was the only example of maybe frustration and trying to get the guys back into it. I didn’t think we lost any composure or anything like that. I thought that everyone was pretty much on the same page, we wanted to come back and get that win but just didn’t.”
Calgary D Mark Giordano On Tonight’s Loss: “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. Bottom line is they got some momentum there in the second, they got a power-play goal and they kept coming. They didn’t stop and they got the lead. We had some looks, but we couldn’t really put that third one in to get some pressure on them.”
On Tonight’s Performance: “It’s tough when you’re killing a lot. It’s tough when you’re in another team’s building, they do grab some momentum, the crowd gets into it, and they fed off that a bit. But I mean we had our looks, we generated some chances on our PP as well. It starts with myself, but we need to convert. There’s good looks there for us, we are right in the middle of the ice. Some of those have to go in at some point for us to be successful.”