Have to like how the Avalanche bounced back from Thursday's 8-2 loss in Edmonton with Friday night's 3-2 win in Calgary. Get a win, even a point, Sunday in Vancouver and it's hard to complain about this three-game trip.
"I was hoping we could put it behind us and come back with a big effort, and that's what we did," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy told reporters. "It was an important win for us." Just as impressive was the manner in which the team, and goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere in particular, responded after the Flames took a 1-0 lead in the first period.
Giguere was angry after being bumped by Lee Stempniak just before Kris Russell scored a power-play goal. Giguere turned around to shove the net off its moorings and was assessed an unsportsmanlike penalty.
"I didn't like my reaction after," he said. "I acted like a two-year-old."
The Avalanche killed off the penalty and took the lead for good late in the second period on goals by Max Talbot and PA Parenteau 54 seconds apart.
John Mitchell, who has been taking advantage of his increased ice time, intercepted Flames goalie Karri Ramo's pass behind the net and fed Talbot in front at the 18-minute mark.
It was Talbot's first goal in 16 games with the Avalanche since his Oct. 31 acquisition from Philadelphia in exchange for Steve Downie.
"It's about time," Talbot said. "I've waited a lot of games for this as an Av and I felt right after the goal, you've got 50 pounds off your shoulders."
Talbot passed to Parenteau for a 2-1 lead 54 seconds later after he knocked Flames defenseman Chris Butler off the puck. Talbot played 16:24, blocked two shots and won two of three faceoffs while helping the Avalanche kill off the Flames' final three power plays.
Rookie Nathan MacKinnon, who has three goals and an assist in the past four games, scored what proved to be the decisive goal at 2:28 of the third period. He left a drop pass for Gabriel Landeskog in the right circle, skated behind the net and came out the other side to cash in the rebound of Landeskog's shot.
The Flames pulled within 3-2 with 1:55 left in regulation with Ramo off for a sixth attacker when Matt Stajan scored, but the Avalanche held on for its 20th win in 27 games.
But the Avalanche power play still stinks. It went 0-for-4 and has gone 0-for-19 in the past six games.
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Giguere finished with 26 saves for his seventh win in as many decisions, the first goalie in franchise history to do so. He has a 1.67 goals-against average and .947 save percentage.
"We needed to respond the right way, show everybody that we're human, the same as anyone else," Giguere said. "We might lose some games where we didn't play well, but we're able to bounce back the next game."
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Landeskog has taken over the team scoring lead from Matt Duchene with 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists ... Duchene, who has 12 goals and nine assists, had four shots Friday but has gone six games without a goal. He also lost 10 of 12 draws ... Defenseman Nate Guenin, who was a minus-4 Thursday, played a season-high 25:01 and was a plus-1 ... Erik Johnson played 23:45 and was plus-1 ... Cory Sarich played 18:38 against his former team and was plus-1.
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Nothing new to report on defenseman Jan Hejda, who sustained a right knee injury Thursday in Edmonton. He flew back to Denver on Friday to be examined by team physician Dr. Andrew Parker. Hoping to get an update Saturday.