Avalanche can't douse hot Flames

Goalie David Rittich provided a sensational 32-save performance, five different players found the net and Mark Giordano netted three assists as the host Calgary Flames defeated the Colorado Avalanche 5-3 on Wednesday night.

Johnny Gaudreau collected two assists to give him 15 points in a six-game point streak for the Flames, who are atop the Western Conference thanks to a three-game winning streak and 6-1-1 roll.

Despite the Avalanche being the better side from start to finish, the Flames took a 2-0 lead thanks to goals by Mikael Backlund and Mark Jankowski.

Backlund opened the scoring at 5:34 of the first period with his 27th point in 28 games career against the Avalanche.

After Gaudreau set up James Neal at the doorstep -- a shot that was denied -- Backlund buried the rebound for his fourth goal in six games and 10th on the season. Then Jankowski doubled the lead at 10:29 by burying a shot from the slot.

But the Avalanche erased the lead before the first intermission.

Nathan MacKinnon put the visitors on the board at 16:32 with his 26th goal of the season, blasting a one-timer to give him five goals and 11 points in an eight-game point spree.

Then Erik Johnson tied it at 2 with 18.4 seconds remaining in the first thanks to a perfect shot off the rush.

Elias Lindholm scored the go-ahead goal 13 minutes into the second period, a power-play tally to net his 21st of the season, and Michael Frolik had Giordano's shot bank off his body and into the net at 9:14 of the third period to extend Calgary's lead to 4-2.

Colorado's Mikko Rantanen scored with 37 seconds left in regulation to get his team within one, but Matthew Tkachuk's empty netter with 10 seconds remaining iced the game.

Semyon Varlamov stopped only 11 shots for the Avalanche, who have just one victory in nine games (1-6-2).

--Field Level Media

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)