Early Offense and Great Goaltending Give Avs Win in Calgary

The top line and Alexandar Georgiev were outstanding in crucial road win.

Game 43
Avalanche 4, Flames 1
Scotiabank Saddledome | January 18, 2023

The Colorado Avalanche are stringing together solid performances and being rewarded for it.

Another strong, fast start helped the Avs to a third straight victory, defeating Calgary on the road, 4-1, Wednesday night. That strong start was thanks to the top line coming out and putting up three goals in the first 13 minutes of play. Foot on the gas pedal early.

Arturri Lehkonen had a pair of first-period goals just one minute and 56 seconds apart, while Mikko Rantanen opened the scoring with his 30th of the season and capped it by being credited with his 31st after getting slashed with an open net.

The Avs played without the league’s best defenseman and Calgary’s hometown boy Cale Makar who was listed as day-to-day before the game, causing Colorado’s fanbase to once again bemoan another injury to a top-tier player.

However, on this first day of his day-to-day injury, Makar sat in the press box and watched his team  — backstopped by the outstanding performance of Alexandar Georgiev — earn two points against a team ahead of them in the standings.

The start of this three-game, five-day road trip was nearly perfect for Colorado. Let’s recap how it happened.