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Instant Reaction: Flames keep it close, but lose again to Avalanche
Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Instant Reaction: Flames keep it close, but lose again to Avalanche

Originally posted on Flamesnation  |  By Ryan Pike  |  Last updated Apr 9, 2026 11:40 PM ET

 

Last Monday, the Calgary Flames visited the Colorado Avalanche and it went very, very poorly. The Flames were down 5-0 after the first period and lost 9-2. It was not a good outing.

On Thursday night, the Flames visited the Avalanche again! It went better for them, but they still were chasing for much of the game. They battled hard, but lost 3-1 to the Avalanche.

The rundown

The Flames were on their heels for much of the first part of the first period. But they managed to get their feet moving midway through the frame.

Late in the period, the Avalanche opened the scoring. With John Beecher in the box, the Avalanche won the face-off, made a couple passes, and then Gabriel Landeskog fired the puck past Dustin Wolf for a power play goal. That gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead.

First period shots were 12-9 Avalanche.

The Avalanche dominated possession in the second period and the Flames were on defence for much of the frame.

With a few minutes left in the period, after umpteen impressive Wolf saves, Colorado finally got their second of the game. Martin Necas executed a really nice give-and-go passing sequence with Nathan MacKinnon, dishing the puck to MacKinnon in the corner and then rushing towards the front of the net. He waited out a sprawling Wolf and put the puck past him to make it 2-0 Avalanche.

Second period shots were 20-9 Avalanche.

The Avalanche continued to control play for much of the third period.

The Flames pulled Wolf for the extra attacker late and managed to spoil Mackenzie Blackwood’s shutout bid. Tyson Gross scored his first NHL goal, jamming a puck past Blackwood from just outside the blue paint, to cut the Avalanche lead to 2-1.

It looked like Gross scored a second goal late in regulation, but Colorado challenged for off-side and the goal was wiped out.

MacKinnon scored an empty-netter to make it a 3-1 Avalanche win.

Third period shots were 12-9 Flames.

Why the Flames lost

Well, the Avalanche are a wagon and the Flames are not. The Flames deserve a ton of credit: they battled and worked hard throughout this game, and they had a very respectable showing for themselves.

But the Avalanche dominated much of this game and the game could’ve been uglier with a lesser netminder between the pipes.

Red Warrior

It’s gotta be Dustin Wolf.

But hey, stick-taps to Tyson Gross. Playing on short notice due to Ryan Strome’s illness, he scored his first NHL goal and looked pretty dang good throughout this game.

Turning point

Well, this one was never close, but Martin Necas’ goal to make it 2-0 made it a bridge too far for the visitors.

This and that

Dustin Wolf started in net. The Flames were without Kevin Bahl (due to a lower body injury he suffered against Dallas), Blake Coleman (his wife is about to have a baby) and Ryan Strome (due to an illness).

After Burner

Join Mike Gould and myself right after the game for After Burner!

Up next

The Flames (32-37-9) conclude this hefty road trip on Saturday night when they face the Seattle Kraken.

This article first appeared on Flamesnation and was syndicated with permission.

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