David Rittich #33 of the Calgary Flames stops a shot from Valeri Nichushkin #13 of the Colorado Avalanche at Scotiabank Saddledome on November 19, 2019 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.DEREK LEUNG/Getty Images
Andre Burakovsky stayed red-hot with another two goals on Tuesday night, leading the Colorado Avalanche to a 3-2 victory over the slumping Calgary Flames.
That’s five goals in the last three games for the 24-year-old left-winger, who on this night took advantage of a promotion to the top line and a chance to line up alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Joonas Donskoi.
MacKinnon assisted on both Burakovsky goals to give him 13 points (5 goals, 8 assists) in his last six games.
Vladislav Kamev also scored for Colorado (13-6-2), which has won five of its last six. The Avalanche improve to 3-1-0 on a five-game road trip that wraps up on Thursday in Minnesota.
Derek Ryan and Andrew Mangiapane scored for Calgary (10-11-3). The slumping Flames are winless in their last five — the last four losses coming in regulation.
Philipp Grubauer got the win in his first game back after missing five games with a lower-body injury. He had 31 stops to improve to 7-3-2. David Rittich had 23 saves for the Flames. His record fell to 9-6-3.
The Avs opened the scoring 3:21 into the first period when Burakovsky took a cross-ice pass from MacKinnon and fired a shot just inside the post.
Before the first period was over, Burakovsky made it 2-0 at 18:45 with his 10th of the season. Off a faceoff win by MacKinnon in the Flames end, the Swede got the puck along the sideboards, cut back sharply to get some separation on defenceman Rasmus Andersson and ripped a shot under the crossbar.
The 2-0 lead for the Avs came despite being outshot 13-7.
After Kamenev, set up by J.T. Compher on a 2-on-1, made it 3-0 at 13:15, the Flames finally got on the scoreboard at 17:41 of the second, Ryan beating Grubauer under the crossbar.
The goal ended a shutout streak of 167 minutes and 44 seconds, dating back to the third period against Dallas on Nov. 13. Calgary was shut out in both games on its weekend road trip to Arizona and Vegas.
Setting up a furious finish, the Flames drew within one on Mangiapane’s fourth goal at 15:44 of the third. But despite getting a power play for the last 21 seconds and having the goalie pulled, they could not take advantage of the 6-on-4.