Kuemper makes 46 saves, Avalanche shut out Flames

DENVER --Darcy Kuemper made 46 saves for the Colorado Avalanche in a 3-0 win against the Calgary Flames at Ball Arena on Sunday.

It was Kuemper's fourth shutout this season.
"I'm really fortunate to play for such a great team and have such great players in front of me," Kuemper said. "It makes my job a lot easier every night, and it's been a lot of fun getting a lot of wins."

Nathan MacKinnon scored two goals, and Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche (42-13-5), who had lost four of five.
"It was one that we should win," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "They played last night. They come in late. You add an hour when you're clearing customs. You lose an hour again because of the time change. They've played a lot of hockey, as have we, and traveling. So it wears you out. It looked to me like we just had a little more jump tonight."

Dan Vladar made 29 saves for the Flames (36-16-7), who were coming off a 3-0 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
"We worked hard and we were an honest team tonight. Their big guys scored and ours didn't. Look at who scored the goals. They're a little more schooled than we are in terms of playing low, close games," Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said. "When that happens, your big guys have to finish their opportunities."
MacKinnon gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 9:55 of the first period, taking a cross-ice backhand pass from Rantanen and scoring a power-play goal short side from the left circle.
MacKinnon then pushed it to 2-0 at 4:00 of the third period with another goal from the left circle following a tie-up on the face-off. He has scored 12 goals in his past 13 games after scoring nine in his first 32 games this season.
"[MacKinnon is] playing well. He's playing two-way hockey, and he's scoring a lot. There was never a doubt that he can't score," Rantanen said. "He's playing really well, but he was playing well before that, too, it just wasn't going in. So I'm really happy for him, and it's good for our team, too."

Rantanen shot into an empty net at 18:22 for the 3-0 final.
"We moved [Valeri Nichushkin] with that line (MacKinnon, Rantanen), and other experimentation, because he's an elite checker, but he still provides offense," Bednar said. "So that line pretty much was against the [Elias] Lindholm, [Johnny] Gaudreau, and [Matthew] Tkachuk line all night, and they won the matchup."
NOTES:Flames defenseman Oliver Kylington missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. … MacKinnon has scored at least 20 goals in seven of his nine NHL seasons. … Colorado's 42 wins are the most through 60 games in its history.