Avalanche beat Flames 5-2 behind Makar's four assists

Colorado turned a quiet start into a rout in the second period, beating Calgary 5-2 at Ball Arena. The Avalanche scored three times in 7:30 of the middle frame to take control.

Nathan MacKinnon opened the scoring at 14:13 of the first with a wrist shot for a 1-0 lead. Martin Necas made it 2-0 at 2:37 of the second. Artturi Lehkonen followed at 5:48 and Brock Nelson tipped one in at 9:07 to push it to 4-0. Joel Farabee got Calgary on the board at 10:50 with a slap shot, and Martin Pospisil cut it to 4-2 early in the third at 1:59.

Lehkonen answered at 4:09 with his second goal, a tip-in, for the 5-2 final. Cale Makar, the player of the game, had four assists and three shots on goal. He set up Lehkonen twice and Nelson once.

Colorado improves to 8-5-1 with 17 points. Calgary falls to 6-8-0. Chirp's Sim gave the Avalanche a 65% chance and called it.