Flames fall shy with third-period comeback effort in road trip-ending loss to the Colorado Avalanche
It was a long shot for the Calgary Flames to beat the Central Division-leading Colorado Avalanche on the second half of a set of games on back-to-back nights.
To their credit, the Flames furiously pushed for another comeback, but it fell short in a 3-1 loss on Saturday to end a four-game road trip.
The Flames (8-10-3) had their chances against the Avalanche (14-6-0).
Connor Zary was denied on a breakaway in the opening seconds.
Dillon Dube ripped a second period-shot off the iron.
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Elias Lindholm couldn’t convert a breakaway off the face-off following Mikael Backlund’s second-period goal that put the Flames down 2-1, and seconds before Nathan MacKinnon’s tally rounded out the scoring.
Even amidst a frantic third-period push in which the Flames outshot the hosts by a 16-6 count, Andrew Mangiapane fired off the crossbar instead of making it a one-goal game and giving the visitors a boost and a chance to tie the game.
The Avalanche, who also played on Friday night, showed why they are a Stanley Cup contender, but the Flames have no reasons to hang their heads.
Sure goaltender Dan Vladar surrendered a dubious wraparound goal to Ryan Johansen, but he gave his team a shot with a 21-save performance.
Now the Flames, who have played 14 of their 21 games on the road to start the season, return home to face the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday, the first clash in a six-game homestand.
For more coverage, visit back Sunday morning for the takeaways.
