Colorado Avalanche lack urgency in home loss to the Calgary Flames: “I didn’t love our effort at times”

The Colorado Avalanche got punched in the face and didn’t respond against a desperate team in Monday’s 3-2 loss to the Calgary Flames. 

First, Cale Makar got sucker punched by Blake Coleman at the end of the second period, which drew a roughing penalty but did not end up hurting Calgary much in the end. It was a weak response from a player that got worked and basically threw a tantrum. But the thing is, it didn’t seem to draw any emotion from the Avs. Instead of burying the Flames, Colorado failed to capitalize on a power play at the beginning of the third period and ultimately blew a 2-0 lead by allowing two goals in 32 seconds. It started with some sloppy mistakes and ended with the Avs going to overtime and ultimately a shootout.

Following the game, Jared Bednar said that his team lacked attention to detail and didn’t play with enough intensity for stretches. “I didn’t think we played very well tonight. I didn’t love our effort at times,” he said.

Bednar also admitted, though, that this team is in a bit of a weird spot. The Avs are seemingly destined to face Dallas in the opening round but can’t really gain any ground in the standings. Although it’s not what he would want to see, it’s human nature to let up a little bit when you’re more or less locked in and are just looking to get to the playoffs. 

While a response is necessary ahead of the postseason, as you don’t want to get into too big of a losing skid before the most important stretch of the year, the silver lining is this can be a wakeup call if the Avs let it be. They didn’t bring enough fight in this one and lost a game that was in the palm of their hands. If the Avs do that in a couple of weeks, it might be the difference between planning a parade or planning for the offseason. But it’s no reason to panic with seven games still remaining in the regular season. 

Obviously they need to score more. Three total goals over the six periods and some change is not going to get it done, especially on your own ice. But considering the Avs were just on a historic home win streak and the results don’t really change much at this point, the big thing now is just getting the juice back for when it really matters. 

Here’s a few more notes from Monday night. 

Shootout struggles

When neither Nathan MacKinnon or Cale Makar were chosen to participate in Monday’s shootout, a lot of folks in the arena were scratching their heads. According to Bednar, it was a decision driven by analytics and past success in these moments. 

Colorado is now just 1-3 in shootouts since the start of 2025, so maybe it’s not crazy to elect to go with someone like Charlie Coyle who has traditionally been very good in these situations. When the guys go 0-for-3 and you lose on a night where Makar already had a highlight goal, though, the loss is a little tougher to stomach and the decision becomes easier to question. 

At least there are no shootouts in the playoffs to worry about.

MacKinnon on a historic pace

Nathan MacKinnon is up to 110 points on the season after dishing out his 80th assist tonight against the Flames. 

He’s just the 12th player in NHL history with three consecutive 110 point seasons. MacKinnon and Connor McDavid are the only active players to have reached the milestone. In fact they’re the only ones to accomplish the feat since Wayne Gretzky did it 13 straight years between 1979 and 1992. 

He’s been incredible his entire career but MacKinnon has statistically gone to another level in recent years.