In Denver, the visiting Calgary Flames let a third period two-goal lead slip away in their match with the Colorado Avalanche on Monday.
Fortunately for the Flames, Sean Monahan scored at 2″09 of extra time to help Calgary get two points from a near disaster.
David Rittich had 28 saves in OT win over Avalanche – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“I thought it was back and forth a little bit there,” Monahan said. “They’re a skilled team and they’ve got top guys who can finish, and that showed tonight.
“When you’re getting looks, that gives you confidence. You want to put one in, but at the end of the day you just have to stick with it, and I got my opportunity in overtime. Getting that extra point was huge.”
David Rittich made 28 saves to get the win.
Nathan MacKinnon and Joonas Donskoi rallied the Avs back from the deficit in the third period to force extra time.
“We looked tired, we didn’t have a lot of energy, execution was poor,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “It looked like a lack of energy to me. On the bright side, we’ll take the point and run. It’s a tough game coming back off a road trip, three tough games, all big wins, coming in and playing a hungry team that’s on top of their game.”
Ryan Graves and Valeri Nichushkin also scored for Colorado.
“It reinforces the confidence the guys have in each other, reinforces the trust you need to have in your teammates and it springboards us forward a little bit,” Flames head coach Geoff Ward said. “It’s nice to see them get rewarded for hard work, and now our skill’s starting to show.”
Andrew Mangiapane and Michael Frolik scored less than 90 seconds apart early in the third period to give Calgary a 4-2 lead.
The Flames are 6-0-1 in their last seven games.
“I didn’t even know [about my record],” Ward said. “We’re taking it a day at a time. We’ve put ourselves in a pretty good situation, but we’ve got a hard week coming up and we’ve got an opportunity going into Arizona (on Tuesday). If we play a good game and get some points, we can be just a couple back of the division leaders.”
Matthew Tkachuk and Derek Ryan also scored for the Flames.
“The way the game went and the way we were able to come back after they made it 4-4 showed our character,” Tkachuk said. “Getting it to overtime was big for us and getting the extra point, that was great.”
[WATCH: All Flames vs. Avalanche highlights]
Pavel Francouz made 28 saves in the loss.
“The difference between winning and losing in this league is so small; it’s just a couple percent you let off the gas, you can end up losing,” Donskoi said. “I think that’s a good lesson for us. We have to find a way to work hard every night and bring the effort we had on the road, the last three games. It’s a good lesson and we keep going forward.”
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