5 Things - Flames @ Avalanche

1. About Last Night

They don’t get much bigger than that.

Or, more fun.

They say that sometimes a win can be worth more than the two points in the standings – and if Friday’s electric third-period comeback is any indication, the Flames have earned themselves a Texas-sized boost in confidence.

Blake Coleman, Elias Lindholm, Mikael Backlund and Nazem Kadri all had third-period goals and the Flames erased 1-0, 2-1 and 4-2 deficits to knock off the red-hot Dallas Stars 7-4 at the American Airlines Center.

Yegor Sharangovich paced the team offensively with a goal and two helpers, while A.J. Greer and Adam Ruzicka rounded out the offence. Jacob Markstrom made 24 stops to pick up his fifth win of the year.

“Resilience, I would say,” said Head Coach Ryan Huska when asked what his biggest takeaways were. “We were down 4-2 and found a way to come back and play our best period in the third.

“But I liked our ... When you see a 7-4 game and the coach says, 'I liked our defence’ … probably doesn't make a lot of sense. But I thought our guys on the backend made some plays with composure tonight. I thought that was a big part of our game, which allowed us to have some success off the rush.”

It was also a big night for Coleman, who grew up about a half-hour from downtown Dallas and hosted the team for a Thanksgiving dinner at his mother- and father-in-law’s abode in nearby Plano.

The goal was his first-ever in Dallas after 10 prior visits to the rink where he grew up going to games with his grandmother and cheering for Mike Modano.

The 31-year-old added an assist to round out a two-point night, while Ruzicka (1G, 1A) and Andrew Mangiapane (2A) also had multi-point efforts.

But the real story was the swanky new suit/hat combo he debuted – thanks, in large part, to his wife, Jordan, who made the purchase of the new chapeau and drove it out to the team hotel so he could show it off to the masses.

“This is my new baby,” he laughed, describing how it came into his possession during his postgame chat with the media. “Honestly, I’m just too lazy to do my hair.

“My wife was kind enough to pick it up this morning. … (The hat’s) 1-and-oh, so she might get another test tomorrow.”

Look good, feel good.

And with a fit like that, there would be no stopping him on this night.

2. Know Your Enemy

The Avalanche were also in action last night, beating the Minnesota Wild 3-2 at the Xcel Energy Center. 

Kurtis MacDermid scored the go-ahead goal less than five minutes into the third period, as the Avs held on to hand the Wild their sixth-straight loss. 

Ross Colton and Valeri Nichushkin rounded out the offence, while Alexandar Georgiev made 19 saves.

“I thought we handled the push well, especially coming into the third, continuing to play our game and get a huge goal by MacDermid,” Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar told reporters after the game. “The guy’s been working extremely hard. To see him come out and do the right thing, fourth line gets a goal again, powerplay gets a goal again, I thought all around being able to come in on the road and sort of have that effort with some guys out of the lineup, it was good to see.”

The 13-6-0 Avalanche have now won two straight and five of their last six.

Colorado forward Tomas Tatar did not play, but Bednar confirmed he would be “available” for tonight’s tilt.

3. This ‘n That

Back At It

This is the third of eight back-to-back sets for the Flames this season, with the team dropping the previous two (@Columbus and @Ottawa).

Did You Know?

Tonight marks the 174th meeting between the Flames and Avalanche. The Flames have only faced seven other franchises more over their 51-year franchise history.

The Flames scored seven goals on the road last night in their win over the Stars. The last time they had more goals as a visiting team was back on Dec. 4, 2018 in Columbus when they defeated the Blue Jackets 9-6.

4. Quotable

Coleman on beginning a tough stretch of games with an important win over the Stars:

“It's a big one. You don't want to look too far ahead, but you know the road ahead is going to be a great challenge for us, but it seems - in a weird way - we seem to raise our game against the best competition, so it's going to be a good measuring stick. Most importantly, we've got one tomorrow. It's a quick turnaround and it's going to be a late night, so this is going to be a game that guys are really going to have to learn how to fight through the fatigue, because these are two really big points to get us back to .500.”

5. Players To Watch

Flames - Yegor Sharangovich

The man known as ‘Sharky’ around the Flames dressing room is heating up with goals in back-to-back games and three in his last four overall. Huska said that his line with Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane was “the best they’ve looked as a trio so far this year" in last night's win over the Stars.

And Sharangovich agrees.

We think ...

“Not bad,” Sharangovich smiled when asked how he feels about his game lately.

With three goals and five points in his last four games after recording an identical point total, combined, in his first 16 outings ... 'Not bad' might be underselling it.

Avalanche - Valeri Nichushkin

Nichushkin is riding a six-game goal streak and has 10 points (7G, 3A) overall in that span.