Avalanch Smother Flames in Colorado


On the Flames Bench
(AP Photo/Jack Dempsey via Yahoo! Sports)
Less than 24 hours after dominating the Oilers in Edmonton, Calgary was the victim of an Avalanche of goals in Colorado.

Joe Sakic scored 2 goals for Colorado, bringing his career total to 561 which passes Guy Lafleur at #18 on the all-time NHL Goal scoring list. Sakic scored the first 2 of 5 Avalance goals in the 2nd period. Both of his goals were on the powerplay and were his first goals in 11 games.

“It means a lot because as a kid you watched him (Lafleuer) in Montreal, doing his magic,” Sakic said. “But right now the win means more. We lost a little ground with the losses last week and it was good to get a little back tonight.”

It was a much needed win for the Avalanche who had slipped 6 points behind Calgary in the Northwest Division. The Flames had been on a 4-game winning streak, which including 2 games on the road.

Overall, the Flames did not play up to their usual standard. They seemed to have problems maintaining control of the puck on the choppy Pepsi Center ice. They gave up their first short handed goal of the season when Antti Laaksonen scored the Avalanche’s 6th goal midway through the 2nd period on a Calgary powerplay.

Colorado tallied 5 goals in the 2nd period, dominating the ice while the Flames managed to get only one goal past David Aebischer.

The Flames rallied in the 3rd period with goals from Chuck Kobasew and Steven Reinprecht. They looked poised to make a comeback until Alex Tanguay doused the flames with Colorado’s 7th goal of the game.

The bright spot for Calgary was Chuck Kobasew’s first career hat-trick. He scored a goal in each of the 3 periods, and was a leader for the Flames with his energy.

Scoring Summary

1st Period
COL: Clark (5) A: Laperriere, McLean
CGY: Kobasew (12) A: Reinprecht

2nd Period
COL: Sakic (18) A: Tanguay, Liles
CGY: Kobasew (13)
COL: Sakic (19) A: Tanguay, Svatos
COL: Liles (11) A: Sakic, Vaananen
COL: Laaksonen (12)
COL: Svatos (29) A: McLean, Clark

3rd Period
CGY: Kobasew (14) A: Yelle
CGY: Reinprecht (9) A: Lombardi, Regehr
COL: Tanguay (21) A: Skrastins, Blake

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