Nazem Kadri, fourth line helps Avalanche destroy Flames, inch closer to division, conference titles

Corey Masisak, The Denver Post on Mar 30, 2026

Published in Hockey

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DENVER — This was not a fair fight.

The Colorado Avalanche, smarting from a loss two days prior, were locked in from the opening shift Monday night and obliterated the rebuilding Calgary Flames, 9-2, at Ball Arena.

Nazem Kadri had a pair of goals against his former club. Superstar Cale Makar had three assists before not playing in the third period because of an upper-body injury. Parker Kelly and Jack Drury had three-point nights as well and Colorado dominated this contest in all facets.

Scott Wedgewood made 27 saves, including a few spectacular ones just for good measure, after the outcome was long decided. The power play was ruthless. The depth guys were relentless. It was a performance reminiscent of the Avs’ bulldozing run to the top of the league earlier this season.

With the win, Colorado’s magic number to win the Central Division and the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference is down to eight points, either gained by the Avs in their final nine contests or lost by the Dallas Stars in their last eight games.

The Avs have had some dominant performances this season, but the first 20 minutes on Monday will go on the short list of best periods of the season. It was a shooting gallery in the Calgary end.

Colorado finished the opening period with 42 shot attempts, 26 shots on goal (tied for second-most in franchise history) and 12 high-danger scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick. The Avs also had a 5-0 lead.

Jack Drury got the party started just 2:31 into the first. He finished a shift full of offensive pressure by banking the puck off Calgary starter Dustin Wolf and in from below the goal line. It was his 10th goal of the year, and it’s the first double-digit season of his career.

Colorado’s power play has improved this month, and the first period became the pièce de résistance. Calgary took a pair of penalties 40 seconds apart, and Kadri scored twice in 66 seconds.

Martin Necas set him up 23 seconds into the 5-on-3 to make it a 2-0 lead, then Kadri pounced on the rebound of a Brock Nelson shot to push the lead to three goals just 7:37 into this contest.

Kadri’s goals were Nos. 13 and 14 on the power play this month. Nathan MacKinnon added No. 15 late in the second period. The Avs had not scored more than eight goals with the man advantage in any other month this season.

Colorado reached the Olympic break with the NHL’s worst power-play percentage at 15.1%. The Avs are 15 for 48 this month, which is 31.3%. That is third in the league since March 1.

The second line scored a highlight-reel goal to make it 4-0 before the halfway point of the period. Nelson’s long outlet pass started it, then captain Gabe Landeskog finished it with his 11th goal of the season after a slick pass from Valeri Nichushkin.

That was all for Wolf, who allowed four goals on 16 shots in just 9:19 of action. The fourth line kept rolling with another tally late in the period. Parker Kelly tipped a Makar shot past former University of Denver goalie Devin Cooley at 15:50 of the third.

Kelly now has 18 goals this season. His previous career high was eight, which he scored each of the past two seasons. Kelly has already signed a four-year, $6.8 million contract extension that starts next season, but 18 goals (and 31 points) with a $825,000 cap hit have made him one of the bargains of the 2025-26 campaign across the NHL.

Colorado’s offensive assault slowed down in the second period, but MacKinnon scored on the power play with 35 seconds remaining.

It picked back up in the third. MacKinnon set up Necas for a one-timer at 6:24 of the third to make it 7-1. Sam Malinski scored on a rush less than two minutes later on a play set up by Kelly and Drury.

Makar took a heavy hit from Flames forward Adam Klapka in the second period, and the television broadcast showed him speaking with one of Colorado’s athletic trainers on the bench and wincing in pain after that shift. Still, Makar took two more shifts before the end of the period, including one that ended with an assist on MacKinnon’s goal, before he didn’t play in the third.

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