"A fun atmosphere,'' confessed captain Mark Giordano of Thursday's five-goal, third-period laser-light-show comeback 6-5 victory by the Flames. "Those are the fun moments, getting on a roll like that.
"They had no answer there in the third. We were moving our feet, we were pushing the pace.
"We didn't lay off the gas, that's for sure."
No, it was pedal to the metal, full throttle, for 20 solid minutes. The tire tracks are still visible on the backs of the Avalanche.
Fittingly, after clawing all the way back to 4-4 on James Neal's third of the season at 10:52 of the third, Giordano answered the hero's call, accepting Mikael Backlund's short diagonal pass to pound the puck beyond a weary Varlamov a shade less than three minutes later.
Giordano's Dolby Stereo-loud yelp to Mikael Backlund as the he raced up to join the rush could be heard all the way out in Beiseker.
"Neutral zone play, Brodes up to Chucky, great play to Backs another great play, by Backs, hitting me late,'' recounted Giordano. "From our blueline I saw it open a bit. And then, when you're that close you try and pick your spot.
"And it went in."
That's what captains - the best ones - do.
Varlamov entered the game sporting a Original Six-calibre goals-against-average (1.62) and save percentage (.950) and held the Flames at bay for as long as humanly possible.
"You could feel it on the ice, on the bench - we were going to turn this around,'' said Backlund.
"When you get rolling like we did in the third … it's hard to explain. As soon as we got that powerplay goal, you didn't wonder, you didn't hope. You knew. That's how it felt, anyway. The building was energetic and we fed off that."
The key moment, by all estimation, occurred near the 17-minute mark of the second period, Ian Cole of the Avs chargingMark Jankowski. In sailed Sam Bennett in search of payback and the gloves were duly shucked.
After the dust had cleared, Cole had an extra three minutes of hoosegow time for a charging major (Bennett slapped with an instigating minor), and the Flames cashed on the PP via Elias Lindholm just 47 seconds from puck-drop of the third.
"Benny steps up for us there,'' emphasized Giordano, "and that's a big thing for teammates, when you're willing to go to battle for each other.
"We got a powerplay out of the whole situation and made it count. A combination of things created some momentum.
"(Varlamov) is a great goalie but we weren't getting enough traffic in front of him, enough second and third opportunites. But I thought in the third we had a couple 10-bellers in the slot. We just kept getting to the net."
From the Lindholm goal on, the Avs must've felt as if they'd been chucked into a piranha tank. Sean Monahan sliced the lead to one, 4-3, before Neal drew them even and Giordano forged them ahead.
"That powerplay goal,'' agreed Backlund, "was huge. But Benny's fight, too, was a big finish to the second, gave us a lot of energy.
"A great comeback, for sure. We came back in Buffalo. The Washington games. Tonight.
"We don't want to be putting ourselves in that position too often but when it happens, we know there's enough character in this room, the commitment, to pull ourselves back."
