Lehkonen's Two Goals, Makar's Four Assist Leads Avalanche Past Flames 5-2

Halloween Highlight

Artturi Lehkonen's multi-goal game and Cale Makar's four-assist contest helped the Avalanche defeat the Calgary Flames 5-2 at Ball Arena on Saturday. Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas and Brock Nelson all added tallies for Colorado, while Devon Toews posted two assists. In net for the Avs, Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 25 of the 27 shots he faced.

“He’s playing really well right now, and that line is humming," Makar said about Lehkonen. "Art’s finding really good spots offensively to put pucks in the net and then facilitate for other guys too. He’s definitely one of the hardest-working guys I know. [He] comes to compete every single day, and he’s getting rewarded right now.”

With the win, the Avalanche improved to 8-5-1.

"I thought the effort was really good," Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said. "I think intentions were right. [The team] played the right way. [The] top line was really good...I thought Blackwood was exceptional. [He] made big saves when we needed it."

How It Happened

MacKinnon opened the scoring at 14:13 of the first period with his ninth goal of the season via a shot from the top of the left circle set up by Makar's low-to-high feed through the slot.

Blackwood kept the Avs in front with an incredible glove save on Matt Coronato's chance from the right doorstep at 19:48 of the first period.

Colorado doubled its lead on the power play at 2:37 of the second period when Necas scored his seventh goal of the season via a left-circle one-timer set up by Nazem Kadri's feed. With this goal, Necas tied Jarri Kurri for the fourth-most points on Halloween (13).

Lehkonen gave the Avs a 3-0 lead at 5:48 of the second period with his 11th goal of the season via a shot from the slot set up by Makar, after he made a nice move at the top of the left circle.

The Avalanche took a 4-0 lead at 9:07 of the middle frame when Nelson scored his fourth goal of the season when he batted an airborne puck via the backhand from the slot off the rush.

Joel Farabee put the Flames on the board at 10:50 of the middle frame via a shot from the left doorstep.

Blackwood made a big stop to keep the Avs up 4-1 when he denied Kevin Bahl's one-timer from the top of the right circle at 11:18 of the middle frame. At 16:39 of the second period, the Avs goaltender made a fantastic save on Matt Coronato's backhand chance from the doorstep.

Calgary made it 4-2 at 1:59 of the third period when Martin Pospisil scored from the right doorstep.

Lehkonen scored his second goal of the game and 12th of the season to give the Avs a 5-2 lead at 4:09 of the third period via a net-front deflection on Makar's left-point shot.

Next Up

The Avalanche begins a two-game road trip on Monday against the Chicago Blackhawks at 6 p.m. MST on Altitude, Altitude+, Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM and the Altitude Sports Radio App.