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 Instead of sulking, he showed his countrymen what they will miss
in Sochi, Russia, next month.
Hudler had a goal and an assist, left winger Mike Cammalleri scored
a power-play goal late in the third period, and the Flames broke out
of an offensive drought to beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 Monday
night.
Center Joe Colborne had a goal and an assist, center Sean Monahan
also scored, and goaltender Karri Ramo stopped 22 shots for Calgary,
which had lost four straight.
"It feels very good," Cammalleri said. "It's been a tough little
stretch for sure. When things like that happen, it's easy to get
negative, but (we were) not doing that and sticking with it."
Hudler could have been negative when the Czech team was announced
and his name wasn't included. He was upset, but after a pregame walk
and talk with coach Bob Hartley, he came through for Calgary.
With the score tied at 3 and the Flames on the power play, Hudler
sent a pass to the front of the net to Cammalleri, who one-timed it
past goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere for the game-winner with 3:30 to
play.
"We had a good talk just prior to the game," Hartley said of Hudler.
"He knows that people sit in the room, there's debate, you get
picked, you don't get picked. Obviously, everyone wants to be in the
Olympics to represent their country so you're disappointed, but we
saw that he's a pro."
Colorado center Paul Stastny had a goal and two assists, and center
Nathan MacKinnon had two goals for the Avalanche, whose three-game
winning streak ended.
MacKinnon, who has four goals in his last two games, took a puck to
the ankle during Colorado's push to tie it late. He was hurting when
he went to the bench, and coach Patrick Roy said MacKinnon was
scheduled to have an X-ray done Tuesday to determine the extent of
the injury.
Afterward, Giguere, who finished with 15 saves, credited the Flames
with having more energy.
"They were hungrier," Giguere said. "They got, some would say, lucky
bounces, but they created those bounces by going to the net, by
creating traffic, and that's how you score a goal in this game, in
this league. I'm not sure we were willing to do that in front of
their net."
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His coach thought the problem wasn't the team but the goaltending. "The game should have finished 2-1 for us. We should not have
given up more than one goal tonight," Roy said. "We may not have
had the jump that we should have, but Giggy should have been
better.
"He hasn't played well in the past four or five games, and he
should stand up and say, 'I'm not playing up to what I should.'
He needs to be better, and we need to have him playing better.
Period."
The Flames, who scored one goal in their previous four games,
got two in a span of 2:28 late in the second period. Colborne
collected the first when he redirected a shot from the point by
left winger T.J. Galiardi.
Hudler followed it up with his 12th goal of the year to give the
Flames a 3-2 lead.
"It was huge. It was nothing special, but we were getting pucks
to the net with traffic," Galiardi said. "We've been preaching
that for I don't even know how long. It's become a broken
record, and tonight it finally worked out."
MacKinnon's first goal of the game tied it at 1-1 at 7:17 of the
first. He took a shot from the side of Ramo, and the puck
trickled through the goalie's pads and into the net.
His second goal was more highlight-worthy. He took a pass from
Stastny from between the circles and beat Ramo with a snap shot
at 14:32 of the opening period.
MacKinnon's two goals spoiled a quick start by the Flames.
Monahan gave Calgary a 1-0 lead just 68 seconds into the game
when his shot was saved by Giguere but went off Colorado left
winger Jamie McGinn and into the net.
NOTES: Avalanche D Ryan Wilson was sent to the Lake Erie
Monsters of the American Hockey League for a two-week
conditioning assignment. Wilson missed 22 games this season with
a back injury, and he struggled since coming back. He was a
healthy scratch for the previous two games. ... The Flames won
for the eighth time in their past 11 visits to Colorado. They
won seven straight from March 17, 2010-Nov. 12, 2011. ...
Avalanche D Nate Guenin was out of the lineup with an ankle
injury. Guenin was hit by a puck in Saturday's win over the San
Jose Sharks. Tyson Barrie took his place on the blue line. ...
Calgary RW David Jones was a scratch. Jones has just one assist
in his last 15 games.
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