Makar sets Avalanche record for goals by defenseman in win against Flyers

DENVER -- Cale Makar scored two goals to set a franchise record for the Colorado Avalanche in a 6-3 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Ball Arena on Friday.

Makar scored his 23rd and 24th goals to pass Sandis Ozolinsh for the single-season record for goals by an Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques defenseman.
"Mikko [Rantanen] told me on the bench. It's pretty special," Makar said. "But those goals go back to the team. It's awesome to achieve something like that, but at the end of the day we're focused on this last run in the regular season."
Nazem Kadri had a goal and two assists, Rantanen and J.T. Compher each had a goal and an assist, and Pavel Francouz made 28 saves for the Avalanche (46-14-5), who have won five of six.
"I thought we had good jump. Pretty good offensively tonight, I thought," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "Didn't make a lot of mistakes, but some of the ones we made, we gave them some easy goals. I didn't really like that part of it."

James van Riemsdyk, Zack MacEwen, and Max Willman scored, and Carter Hart made 45 saves for the Flyers (21-33-11), who were coming off a 5-2 win at the St. Louis Blues on Thursday that ended a 13-game skid on the road.
"Against a team like that, with that kind of skill, you always have to play smart," Philadelphia coach Mike Yeo said. "I always believe the best way to stop speed is before it starts, and I didn't think we did a very good job of that."
Kadri scored on a wrist shot from between the circles to give Colorado a 1-0 lead at 7:20 of the first period.
Van Riemsdyk tied it 1-1 at 13:02 when he scored on his own rebound.
"We definitely worked hard," van Riemsdyk said. "It's just a matter of executing the little details against a team like that on the end of a back to back [because] you're not going to have much room for error. Certainly, those little details become critical."
Makar made it 2-1 with a power-play goal 44 seconds later when his point shot through traffic beat Hart at 13:46.
"On an individual basis, I don't think I had my best game, but at the end of the day that's why we have depth," Makar said. "Effort-wise, I thought that it was there all game. I thought we had really good back pressure from our forwards, which helped us on the back end create good gaps, and it kind of all starts from there for us."

Compher pushed the lead to 3-1 at 16:17 after his net-side shot caromed off Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler and Hart and into the net.
Rantanen increased the lead to 4-1 at 18:06 after his shot hit the stick of Philadelphia defenseman Keith Yandle and deflected past Hart. It was his 32nd goal of the season, an NHL career high (31, 2018-19).
"I think [Rantanen's] been an impact player in the bulk of our games," Bednar said. "We've seen him dominate large portions of a season before, but I think this one he just seems to be real committed on the defensive side of things and really digging into his checking game, and then you can see the numbers he's putting up offensively still."

Kurtis MacDermid made it 5-1 at 12:19 of the second period on a shot from the point.
MacEwen cut it to 5-2 at 19:28 before Max Willman made it 5-3 at 7:44 of the third period when his shot deflected off Francouz.
"I don't like getting scored on, and I know our guys don't either," Bednar said. "So I just thought there was a few things we could have done differently on probably about four chances per period through the first two, which is low numbers. But we'll take a look at it, try to cure them."
Makar scored at 8:25 for the 6-3 final.
NOTES:Flyers forward Travis Konecny (lower body) was a late scratch. … Philadelphia forward Oskar Lindblom played 15:36 after missing Thursday's game with an undisclosed injury. … Flyers forward Joel Farabee had an assist and has scored nine points (three goals, six assists) in the past seven games. … Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson and forward Andrew Cogliano each had an assist for their first point since being acquired in separate trades, Manson from the Anaheim Ducks on March 14 and Cogliano from the San Jose Sharks on Monday. … Avalanche defensemen have scored 55 goals this season to break the franchise record of 53, set by the Nordiques in 1992-93. … The Avalanche has scored at least one power-play goal in six straight games (8-for-18, 44.4 percent). … Colorado swept the two-game series, outscoring Philadelphia 13-8, with a 101-63 shot advantage, including a season-high 51 shots Friday.