Avalanche vs. Flames: Artturi Lehkonen Scores Twice as Cale Makar Piles Up Four Assists in 5-2 Win

Cale Makar did not bother with a costume on Halloween. He came to Ball Arena as himself, the defenseman who turns every Colorado possession into a problem, and for the Calgary Flames that was scarier than anything hanging in a Spirit Halloween aisle.

The Colorado Avalanche beat the Flames 5-2 on Saturday night, and Makar's fingerprints were on four of the five goals. Artturi Lehkonen finished two of them, Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas each posted a goal and an assist, Brock Nelson added another, and Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 25 of 27 shots as the Avalanche won for the second straight game.

Calgary arrived in a tough spot. The Flames beat Seattle 6-2 at home on Friday night with Dustin Wolf in goal, and Devin Cooley is on the injured list with a lower-body injury, so the net went to Arsenii Sergeev, the club's No. 3 goaltender, recalled from the AHL with one previous career start and none this season. The AP noted that this made it two straight wins for Colorado against opponents playing on the second night of a back-to-back.

Six and a Half Minutes That Ended It

The first period stayed scoreless until 14:13. Makar slid a low-to-high pass through the slot, and MacKinnon ripped a wrist shot from the top of the left circle for his ninth goal of the season. Necas picked up the second assist.

Calgary nearly answered before the horn, but Blackwood sprawled to glove down a Matt Coronato chance from the right side of the crease, then stopped Joel Farabee 12 seconds into the second.

Ryan Strome caught Devon Toews with a high stick 55 seconds into the middle frame, and Colorado cashed in at 2:37 when Nazem Kadri found Necas for a one-timer from the left circle, his seventh goal.

At 5:48, Makar fed Lehkonen in the slot, and his quick shot made it 3-0. At 9:07, Nelson swatted a puck out of midair with his backhand off the rush, with Gabriel Landeskog and Makar assisting, and it was 4-0.

Farabee got Calgary on the board at 10:50, just 1:43 after Nelson's goal, scoring his fifth of the season with Mikael Backlund drawing the lone assist. Blackwood then robbed Kevin Bahl on a one-timer from the top of the right circle and stoned Coronato on a backhand in tight.

Martin Pospisil made it 4-2 from the right side of the crease 1:59 into the third, with Strome and Zayne Parekh assisting. Colorado needed just 2:10 to answer, as Lehkonen redirected a Makar shot from the left point at 4:09 for his second of the night.

Makar Drew It Up, Lehkonen Finished It

Four assists, all at even strength, plus-4 in 24:27. Makar set up the opener, set up both Lehkonen goals and grabbed the secondary helper on Nelson's. That pushed him to 12 assists on the season. He did not score on Saturday, and he did not need to. He was basically Danny Ocean in Ocean's Eleven: never the guy cracking the vault, always the guy who planned the job.

Lehkonen keeps cashing the checks. His goals were his 11th and 12th, a dozen through Colorado's first 14 games, and both came from the hard areas: a quick release from the slot and a deflection at the net front. Makar was happy to talk him up afterward.

"He's playing really well right now, and that line is humming," Makar said. "Art's finding really good spots offensively to put pucks in the net and then facilitate for other guys too."

MacKinnon, who opened the scoring, won 7 of 12 faceoffs and finished plus-3. Necas matched Makar at plus-4 with his goal and assist. Toews had the secondary assist on both Lehkonen goals and blocked three shots.

Blackwood's line of 25 saves on 27 shots does not scream heist, but the timing of those stops mattered. "I thought Blackwood was exceptional," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said, adding that he "made big saves when we needed it."

For Calgary, Farabee and Pospisil scored, and Pospisil threw six hits. Sergeev finished with 28 saves on 33 shots in a tough assignment.

The Turning Point: Blackwood's Glove, Then Strome's Stick

Rewind to the last seconds of the first. Blackwood's sprawling glove stop on Coronato, and the Farabee save to open the second, kept a 1-0 game from becoming 1-1 for a team that badly needed something good to happen on the second night of a back-to-back.

Instead, 43 seconds after the Farabee stop, Strome's high stick handed Colorado a power play, Necas scored on it, and three goals in 6:30 turned a one-goal game into a four-goal hole. A team on zero rest was never catching up from there.

Numbers That Tell the Story

• 4 of 5: Colorado goals Makar assisted on, every one of them at even strength.
• 0: Power plays Calgary drew. Colorado was not whistled for a penalty and went 1-for-3 with the extra man, including a fruitless double minor on Yan Kuznetsov late in the third.
• 62.7%: Colorado's faceoff win rate, 32 wins to Calgary's 19.
• 25-13: Calgary's edge in hits, led by Pospisil's six. The physical edge never showed up on the scoreboard.
• .926 vs. .848: Blackwood's save percentage against Sergeev's.

The Standings Check

Colorado is 8-5-1 with 17 points and 6-1-1 at Ball Arena. Both halves of this two-game winning streak were 5-2 home wins, over New Jersey on Wednesday and Calgary on Saturday, and it is the first time the Avalanche have won consecutive games since opening the season with two straight wins. They are 2-0 against Calgary this season, including a 7-3 win in Calgary on Oct. 8.

The Avalanche now open a two-game road trip Monday in Chicago. The AP reported that defenseman Josh Manson is out two months with an ankle injury suffered against the Devils.

Calgary falls to 6-8-0 with 12 points and 1-5-0 on the road. The Flames have won five straight at home, but this was their third consecutive road loss, after Vegas and Edmonton. Since an 0-5 start, they are 6-3. The trip continues Monday night in San Jose.

The Last Word

Calgary showed up on short rest with its third-string goalie and a home winning streak that did not travel. Colorado showed up with Makar, which is a little like bringing a full-size candy bar to a neighborhood of raisin boxes. Bednar summed up his team's night simply: "I thought the effort was really good." With Makar running the show like this, effort is about all the Avalanche have to supply.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes as reported by the Colorado Avalanche on nhl.com, with additional reporting from the Associated Press.