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 The Avalanche were down a goal to the Calgary Flames when Talbot
took advantage of a bad decision by opposing goaltender Karri Ramo
and turned a pass from center John Mitchell into a wide-open net to
tie things up.
"It's about time. I waited a lot of games for this as an Av," Talbot
said of his second goal of the year and first since Oct. 11.
For good measure, Talbot set up the go-ahead goal 54 seconds later
by stealing the puck on the forecheck, attacking the net and
creating a rebound chance for right winger PA Parenteau to give the
Avs the momentum heading into the second intermission.
"I feel like right after the goal, you've got 50 pounds off your
shoulder," said Talbot. "Your head is a little bit more high, and
the play slows down for you."
Rookie center Nathan MacKinnon scored what turned out to be the
winner 2:28 into the third period, collecting a rebound from captain
Gabriel Landeskog's shot and snapping it into the open side of the
Flames' net with Ramo unable to get across in time.
"We weren't moving like we were in the first and they capitalized on
some breakdowns," said Flames defenseman Mark Giordano. "We've got
to find a way not to give those close goals. Two goals ... pretty
close together, we've got to eliminate that. It's a disappointing
loss."
Although Ramo played well for most of the night, making 22 saves, he
took the blame for mishandling the puck on Talbot's goal.
"I just played it to the wrong side. I should have played it to the
backhand. They got momentum and scored three goals, so it was a big
game-changing moment there," Ramo said. "It's hockey. Mistakes cost
goals. My overall game was all right, but those mistakes are what
counts and I have to avoid those."
The Flames were looking for their first three-game win streak of the
season and the Avalanche were hoping to rebound from an embarrassing
8-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.
It looked promising for the Flames early on as they took advantage
of a lack of discipline from the Avalanche to rack up an 11-5 edge
in shots and a 1-0 lead in the first 20 minutes.
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With Mitchell in the penalty box for holding 12:59 minutes
into the game, Flames defenseman Kris Russell sent a long shot
from the point past Avalanche goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere,
who had a difficult time seeing it because Flames right winger
Lee Stempniak was parked at the top of the crease.
Giguere knocked over his net after unsuccessfully protesting to
the referee and took an unsportsmanlike penalty to give the
Flames another power play.
It was Russell's fourth goal of the season and 14th point in 28
games this year.
Flames left winger Michael Cammalleri fed center Matt Stajan for
a goal that cut the lead to 3-2 with an extra attacker on the
ice in the dying minutes, but Calgary couldn't get the
equalizer.
The bounce back from Thursday's game was key for the Avs.
"It was really important. We talked about it this morning as a
team, about learning from the game (Thursday) night and putting
it behind us," said Talbot, who played his best game as an Av.
Getting offensive contributions from the gritty veteran made his
teammates happy as well.
"He's been a great teammate to everybody. He's been working
extremely hard. It's good to see him being able to contribute
offensively," said Giguere, who improved to 7-0 on the season in
limited action behind starter Semyon Varlamov. "I think it was
weighing on him a little bit. You could tell he was getting
frustrated."
NOTES: The Avalanche played without D Jan Hejda, who returned to
Denver on Friday to have his right knee checked out. Hejda
played just 3:47 in Edmonton on Thursday before leaving with the
injury in the first period. ... LW Lane MacDermid played his
first game with the Flames since being acquired in a trade with
the Dallas Stars on Nov. 22. He dropped the gloves with LW Cody
McLeod. ... Avalanche backup G Jean-Sebastien Giguere started
his eighth game of the season a night after G Semyon Varlamov
allowed eight goals in a loss to the Oilers in Edmonton. ...
With a first-period goal, Flames D Kris Russell ended a
three-game point drought. He had points in five of his previous
seven games before the cold snap. ... With C Joe Colborne out
with the flu and RW Brian MacGrattan nursing a lower-body
injury, the Flames had to dress D Derek Smith as a fourth-line
winger.
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