DENVER (AP) – The Colorado Avalanche were playing out the string a year ago. With 19 games left in this season they’re battling for their first playoff berth in four years.”It’s a complete 180. We had nothing to play for last year at this time and this year we have everything to play Los Angeles Kings Hats Authentic ,” center Nathan MacKinnon said. ”We’re going to try to keep it going.”MacKinnon and Tyson Barrie each had a goal and an assist in the Avalanche’s 5-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night.Matt Nieto and Nikita Zadorov also scored, and Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves. The Avalanche have won 12 of 13 home games to tighten the Western Conference playoff race.Colorado tied Calgary with 73 points and moved within a point of Anaheim and St. Louis for the second wild card.”It’s huge,” Barrie said. ”I don’t think anybody picked us to be here. So here we are.”Mikael Backlund and Michael Frolik scored, and David Rittich stopped 29 shots for Calgary, which couldn’t rally with its leading scorer out for the last 11:55.Johnny Gaudreau was tossed after drawing a high-sticking penalty on Colorado’s Blake Comeau. Gaudreau was given an embellishment minor on the play and then assessed a game misconduct after arguing with the officials from the penalty box.”I don’t know how you’re supposed to react to getting hit in the face,” Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said of the embellishment call. ”When I lost half the vision in my left eye getting a stick in the face, I throw my head back. He was flying, 20 mph, whatever he’s going, and you get a stick in the face? Your head’s going back. I don’t get it. If I’m Johnny I’m mad Custom Los Angeles Kings Jerseys , too.”You’re a guy that’s six, eight penalty minutes a year? Come on.”Gulutzan said Gaudreau was tossed after he made a gesture to the official while sitting in the penalty box.”You can’t make a gesture because officials don’t want to be shown up on TV,” Gulutzan said. ”That’s kind of the unwritten rule. He just kind of waved his hand.”Colorado took control with a four-goal flurry in the second period that turned a 2-0 deficit into a two-goal lead. MacKinnon’s 29th midway through the period started it, Zadorov tied it 1:08 later, and Barrie gave the Avs a 3-2 lead with his seventh goal at 12:41.Nieto made it 4-2 with 1:18 to go when Carl Soderberg threaded a pass through two defensemen to the front of the net for an easy tap-in.Duncan Siemens sealed it when he scored into an empty net with 17 seconds left in the game for his first NHL goal.The Flames had a late power play and pulled Rittich for a two-man advantage but couldn’t score. They have now fallen out of a playoff position with 17 games left.”We were saying we controlled our own destiny,” Calgary captain Mark Giordano said. ”Now we are getting to that point where if we don’t start stringing wins together we are going to need some help.”The Flames capitalized on a pair of Colorado turnovers to take an early two-goal. Backlund scored a short-handed goal at 14:19 of the first, and Frolik made it 2-0 with his 10th goal 2:41 into the second.”Having a 2-0 lead, that’s when you to try to put them away and then play sound defense,” Flames forward Matthew Tkachuck said. ”We let them back in the game right away.”NOTES: Avalanche coach Jared Bednar celebrated his 46th birthday on Wednesday. … Colorado was 1 of 7 on the power play. … Flames D Nick Shore, acquired from Ottawa on Monday www.officialwild.com , was scratched due to illness. … The Avalanche recalled G Spencer Martin from the AHL to serve as Varlamov’s backup. Jonathan Bernier and Andrew Hammond are in the concussion protocol. … Calgary is 6-4-1 on the second night of back-to-back games. … Comeau and Soderberg had two assists each for Colorado.UP NEXTFlames: Host the New York Rangers on Friday night.Avalanche: Host Minnesota on Friday night. CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — The Calgary Flames stuck to an unconventional winning formula on Saturday night.Sean Monahan, Michael Frolik and Mikael Backlund scored in the third period, and the Flames again rallied for a 5-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.Monahan finished with two goals and Matthew Tkachuk also scored as Calgary got its fifth win this season when trailing after two periods.“Obviously it’s not ideal to be down in games like we have been,” said Flames centre Sean Monahan, who had two goals to extend his point streak to six games (4 goals, 6 assists). “But we had a lot of good looks and if you play the same way we’re playing, you’re going to get rewarded and that’s what happened tonight.”Anaheim (two) is the only other NHL team with more than one win when behind after 40 minutes.David Rittich had 12 saves to help the Flames win their fourth straight.Jonathan Toews got his 300th career goal, and Jan Rutta and Brandon Saad also scored for the Blackhawks, who went 0-3-0 on a three-game trip to Western Canada. Corey Crawford stopped 36 shots Minnesota Wild T-Shirts Authentic , including 18 of the 20 he faced in the third period.“They just put so much pressure,” Crawford said. “They kept coming. A lot of speed. They were making plays. They had a lot of confidence there in the third.”With Calgary trailing 3-1, Tkachuk started the comeback with 1:34 left in the second.“We had been the better team so far in the game, we had chances and chances, and we knew we were going to get one,” Tkachuk said.After pressing all period, Monahan finally tied it with 6:01 left in the third, when he neatly converted a cross-ice pass off the rush from Johnny Gaudreau. Monahan extended his point streak to six games (four goals, six assists).Frolik put Calgary ahead for good with 4:55 left as his centering pass from below the goal line deflected off a player and got past Crawford. It was the seventh goal for Frolik, who scored only 10 times last year.“He passed it out front and I put my stick out and one of our guys put out his stick and I didn’t see where it went after that Minnesota Wild Hoodies Authentic ,” Crawford said.Backlund capped the scoring with an empty-netter with 59 seconds left.Calgary’s top unit of Monahan, Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm were the best line all night.“They were real good,” Flames coach Bill Peters saod. “Johnny had the pucks lots, (Lindholm) had unbelievable looks, (Monahan) ended up with a pair, and at the end of the day, they were playing against real good players.”The Flames outshot Chicago 41-15, including 20-4 in the third period.“You can’t give up that many chances in the third and expect to come out with a win,” Saad said. “Yeah, they got a lucky bounce on that fourth goal there Minnesota Wild Hats Authentic , but they created their own luck. They were working hard. They had the puck possession. We fell into a shell.”Calgary opened the scoring 4:46 in when a quick passing sequence was finished off by Monahan in the slot on the power play.Chicago tied it with 6:03 remaining in the period after Travis Hamonic’s holding penalty put the Blackhawks on a two-man power play fpr 1:10 and they took advantage on Toews’ eighth goal.The Blackhawks took their first lead with 27 seconds left in the first as Rutta faked a slap shot to elude the sliding Garnet Hathaway, then put a wrist shot through a crowd and past Rittich high on his blocker side.Saad split the Flames’ defense while being harassed from behind by Mark Giordano and sent a shot that squeaked through Rittich’s pads to make it 3-1 with 6:19 left in the second.Calgary took over after that.NOTES: The Flames got an early five-minute man advantage when Duncan Keith was given a boarding major and game misconduct just over two minutes in, when his hit from behind on Dillon Dube sent the rookie head first into the boards. Dube left the ice on his own, but very slowly. He did not return. … Chicago lost in regulation for the first time in its last 10 trips to Calgary (5-1-4).UP NEXTBlackhawks: Host Carolina on Thursday night.Flames: At Anaheim on Wednesday night to open a three-game California trip.
