DENVER – The punch in the face Milan Lucic delivered to Nikita Zadorov late in the second period is the one they’ll show on all the highlight reels.
However, it was the opening gut punch Zadorov’s Avalanche handed the Calgary Flames that was the real story of the night.
Riding a wave of emotion created by a raucous opening night crowd at Pepsi Center, the Colorado Avalanche picked up right where they left off against the Flames last spring when they dummied them in five games during the first round of the playoffs.
Handed two power plays in the first five minutes, the Avalanche outshot the visitors 14-3 in a first period clinic that somehow saw the Flames down just 2-1 because of goaltender David Rittich.
Despite tying the game early in the second with the Flames’ second power-play goal of the night, the visitors tried playing catch up the rest of the night against a team that boasted one of the best power-play units in the league last year.
A case can be made it’s an even better bunch this year as Nazem Kadri and Cale Makar have replaced Colin Wilson and Tyson Barrie on a power play anchored by Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon.
“Just too many penalties we took – it’s pretty simple,” said Matthew Tkachuk, whose club played shorthanded for 10 minutes en route to a 5-3 loss that included a pair of power-play goals for each side.
“It was hard to get into the groove for everybody. Whether you think they’re penalties or not – I guess it was similar for both teams – you can’t make excuses for that and you’ve got to stay disciplined because that’s a power play that can hurt you.”
Plenty of physical pain was inflicted late in the second period when six-foot-five Zadorov mashed tiny Austin Czarnik with a hit that drew a boarding call, as well as the ire of Lucic.
[snippet id=4748264]
Disinterested in engaging, the Russian defender tried holding on to Lucic before the gloved Flames winger popped Zadorov with a few in the face.
The fireworks were eerily reminiscent of the scene on opening night a year earlier when Dillon Dube was recklessly hit by Erik Gudbranson, prompting Travis Hamonic to throw down with the monstrous Canuck.
In both cases coming to the honourable defence of a smaller, younger teammate ended their nights – Lucic with an instigator misconduct and Hamonic with several facial fractures that cost him the better part of a month.
“He takes a run at one of our guys and sometimes you’ve got to win the game within the game and show team toughness,” explained Lucic after his Flames debut.
“It felt like our game got better after that moment.”
Tkachuk agreed, suggesting it changed the game’s momentum.
[snippet id=4167285]
Indeed, the Flames were the better team in the third period when the whistles went away and it was all five-on-five hockey that saw the Flames outshoot the hosts 14-6. Alas, Philipp Grubauer did what he did to the Flames last spring and held them at bay before Joonas Donskoi’s second of the game found the back of an empty net to seal the deal.
The notoriously-slow-starting Flames are 1-15-1 in their last 17 season openers, which includes being winless in their last 10. Amazing.
An even crazier stat shows Lucic has received a fighting major in his debuts with Boston, Edmonton and Calgary, as well as a match penalty his first game with Los Angeles.
Despite barely touching the puck the first period, the Flames took solace in outplaying the Avs at even-strength the second half of the night.
A hollow victory, if that.
“The first 10 minutes in any team’s building in their opener is always going to be that atmosphere that we had tonight,” said Giordano, who celebrated his 36th birthday with a goal that brought the Flames to within 4-3 late in the second period.
“They got a lot of momentum because their top players got a lot of touches early. That’s a pretty good unit over there and they made us pay. We’ve got to work on our discipline, but from the midway point I thought we did a better job.”
CHIP SHOTS:
Fresh off signing his six-year, $55.5 million contract, Rantanen scored on two of his line’s 13 shots in a game that will have Calgarians concerned about how overmatched they again seemed against Colorado … Sean Monahan scored on the Flames’ first shot of the night, 8:33 in. Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and an assist, giving him his 100th career multi-point game in his 395th outing … Flames GM Brad Treliving had his contact extended by three years earlier in the day … On the same day he admitted he was “very close” to accepting a trade to Calgary for TJ Brodie in August, Kadri made his Avalanche debut with eight shot attempts, including a bullet that rifled off the crossbar early … The Flames flew home after the game and will host Vancouver Saturday night.
[relatedlinks]
