"Nerves of steel," Travis Hamonic said of Rittich following the game. "It's neat to see these young guys come in and play that well. He came in right from the start, he got tested really early on, and played with a ton of confidence. It was nice to see."
Rittich confirmed he wasn't nervous.
"I think it was a good game," he said. "Guys played very well, they helped me."
Dougie Hamilton and Micheal Ferland also scored for the Flames. Rittich stopped 24 of 26 shots over the course of his big night.
"I thought he played well," coach Glen Gulutzan said of Rittich's performance. "He made some key saves when we needed them. When you see a guy that's that excited and such a good guy, it's certainly a nice feeling to play well in front of him and get him a win in the NHL. That's a big thing."
Mikko Rantanen and Nikita Zadorov scored for the Colorado Avalanche, while Jonathan Bernier made 25 saves on 28 shots.
Hamilton drew first blood, with the powerplay continuing to pay dividends for the Flames. Gabriel Landeskog went to the box for crosschecking Matthew Tkachuk, allowing Tkachuk to set Hamilton up with a cross-ice pass. Hamilton made no mistake, snapping it off of the post, ping, short-side, and in to give the Flames the first goal of the game.
The Avalanche responded with a powerplay goal of their own, with Matt Bartkowski sitting in the box for a delay of game call. Landeskog's screen gave Rittich no chance to see the puck as Rantanen's shot beat him far-side, tying the game.
But not for long. With just 51 seconds to go in the second period, Ferland - who had already been foiled by a post earlier in the game - took a pass from Sean Monahan and shot the puck high, short-side. The puck hit the crossbar and went in, restoring the lead for the Flames (and earning Ferland a little smooch on the helmet from Monahan).
Just 22 seconds later, Backlund added to the lead with the 100th goal of his NHL career. Travis Hamonic's shot bounced right to Backlund, and the Swede made no mistake in immediately firing the puck over a sprawling Bernier for the milestone goal.
"It's cool," Backlund said. "It's a big milestone for me."
Backlund also mentioned he scored the goal on his dad's birthday.
"Lot of tears, probably?" Backlund said when asked to guess how his father reacted. "He's an emotional guy.
"That's why I'm so emotional, too. I just remember growing up, looking up, and just seeing, if I scored or something, he'd always be a little teared up."