Andre Burakovsky scored twice and goalie Philipp Grubauer made 31 saves in his return from injury as the visiting Colorado Avalanche beat the struggling Calgary Flames 3-2 Tuesday night.
Grubauer was back after missing five games with a lower-body injury for the Avalanche, who have won five of their last six games.
Burakovsky opened the scoring 3:21 into the game when he joined a rush up the ice, received a pass from Nathan MacKinnon and went high with a shot.
It's the seventh consecutive game in which the Flames have surrendered the first goal.
Burakovsky's second goal of the game came with 95 seconds remaining in the first period. After his team won a faceoff in the Calgary zone, Burakovsky moved below the right faceoff dot and wired a top-shelf shot for his 10th goal of the season. Burakovsky finished with 12 goals in each of the past three seasons.
Vladislav Kamenev's first goal of the season came 13:15 into the second period to make it 3-0. Taking advantage of a poorly executed Flames line change, Kamenev was part of an odd-man rush that ended when he was set up by J.T. Compher for a tap-in goal.
MacKinnon collected a pair of assists, while rookie Cale Makar added one, giving him 13 points in November, the most by a rookie defenseman since Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom had 17 in 1991.
Derek Ryan's goal with 2:19 left in the second period not only put the Flames on the board but also snapped his team's goal scoring drought. Milan Lucic won a board battle and moved the puck to Ryan, who snapped home a shot from inside the left dot. Calgary went 167:44 without scoring a goal.
Andrew Mangiapane made it a one-goal game with 4:16 left in regulation, but it wasn't enough for the Flames, who have lost five straight games.
David Rittich made 23 saves for Calgary, which has surrendered the game's first goal in 16 of 24 games this season and fallen behind by a 2-0 score in all five loses during the current skid.
--Field Level Media
Colorado | Calgary | |
Andre Burakovsky 2 | Points | Andrew Mangiapane 1 |
Andre Burakovsky 2 | Goals | Andrew Mangiapane 1 |
Nathan MacKinnon 2 | Assists | Oliver Kylington 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Philipp Grubauer .939 | Save Percentage | David Rittich .885 |
Philipp Grubauer 31 | Saves | David Rittich 23 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Colorado | 26 | 3 | 0-2 | 2-2 | 4 | 25 |
Calgary | 33 | 2 | 0-2 | 2-2 | 4 | 31 |