CALGARY — Dan Vladar looked like he was having the night of his life as an NHL goalie through the first 24 minutes Tuesday night.
Then the Colorado Avalanche unleashed a dizzying 16-minute flurry of offense that would have humbled just about any NHL goaltender. Mikko Rantanen had two goals and two assists, including three points during a five-goal second period, to help the Avs crush the Calgary Flames, 6-2, at Scotiabank Saddledome.
Vladar stopped 23 of the first 24 shots he faced, but the problem for Calgary is there was still more than 36 minutes to play at that point. Yielding a shot per minute is not an ideal strategy against any team, and eventually the dam broke for the Avs.
The end result was one of the best periods the Avs have played this season.
“Yeah, I think so,” Rantanen said. “We were skating, playing well in the offensive zone. We were defending well. We made them make turnovers in the neutral zone and we were quick (in the other direction) always. When we play like that, I would say it was it is harder for teams to play against us.”
Josh Manson’s shot hit Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau on the way in at 4:50. Nathan MacKinnon’s filthy one-timer over Vladar’s far shoulder came 58 seconds later.
Valeri Nichushkin followed 2:03 after that with a hard wrist shot off the left post and in. Casey Mittelstadt scored his first with the Avs at 14:10 on a perfectly executed breakout play. Rantanen finished the barrage with a shot from almost the same angle as MacKinnon’s just seconds after Cale Makar rifled one off the post.
The final damage was five goals in 11 shots on goal before the Flames mercifully gave Vladar the third period off. MacKinnon, Nichushkin and Devon Toews all had two points. Brandon Duhaime collected his first point on Mittelstadt’s goal.
“It’s a good question. I’d have to go back and look, honestly,” Mittelstadt said when asked the last time he scored a goal off a breakout play like that. “Heck of a play by those guys, though, (Toews) and (Duhaime). (Duhaime) made it pretty easy for me.”
Nichushkin scored the game-winner in his first game back, and created the opening goal Tuesday night after a quick promotion to the top power-play unit in his second contest. Nichushkin collected the rebound of a MacKinnon shot from the left flank then slipped a pass across the top of the crease to Rantanen for a lay-up 2:05 into the first period.
The assist for MacKinnon was his 112th point of the season, setting a new career best. He’s at 113, the most by an Avs player since Joe Sakic had 118 in 2000-01, with 16 games to play. The franchise record is 139, set by Peter Stastny in 1981-82. Sakic holds the Colorado record, for now, with the 120 he had in 1995-96.
Calgary scored twice in its first three shots, but that proved to be a temporary blip for backup goaltender Justus Annunen. This became his fifth consecutive strong outing, and further bolstered the idea that maybe Colorado didn’t need to trade for a veteran option in net before the deadline.
Annunen had back-to-back shutouts before this game, and has now allowed four goals in his past four starts. The Avs have now won four in a row, outscoring their foes 20-5 in the process. They’ll face the top team in the Western Conference on Wednesday night in Vancouver.
“I thought we had good get-up-and-go tonight, which should be expected,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We had a couple practice days. We were shooting the puck early, had an attack mentality.
“We kept shooting the puck and going to the net. The big guys had a good night. I thought all the new guys had a good night. We were able to build a lead, and not tax too many guys. That’s a good thing going into the back-to-back.”
Footnotes: Artturi Lehkonen (illness) did not play. Zach Parise (lower body) participated in the morning skate in a red no-contact jersey and also was not in the lineup.
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