The Colorado Avalanche are leaving Calgary after putting the Flames out on Thursday night by a final score of 4-2. It could have been 5-2 by the end, but an early would-be goal by Sam Malinski was disallowed due to offsides. It seemed like a slow first period, but after the first 20 minutes, Calgary was up 1-0. Colorado entered the second period down, but came out with three goals in that period, giving the Avalanche a comfortable lead.
A player who isn’t talked about a whole lot is defenseman Sam Malinski, who is definitely an underrated player for the Avs.
The 26-year old has one goal and five assists on the season, counting one on Thursday night, which led to an awesome breakaway goal for Martin Necas, who is having an outstanding first couple of games with the Avalanche.
Just check out the play by Malinski and Necas:
Beautiful angled pass from Sam Malinski sets Martin Necas up on the breakaway pic.twitter.com/FdMaZwLeGa
— GS Off Ice (@gs_off_ice) February 7, 2025
This is the type of effort you’d want to see all around. The fact that Malinski put that puck against the boards in the perfect spot to set Necas up for the breakaway goal was absolutely incredible. It was past the halfway point of the third period, which made things even sweeter. Sure, the Flames got another goal, but I think that most people would have stopped holding their breath after that incredible goal.
The Colorado Avalanche should feel really good after victory over Flames
This type of play gets me excited. It would be fun to go back and watch every goal the Avalanche have had this season and see where we’d rank this particular score.
I’m very happy to see the Avalanche pull off this sort of victory. Though the Flames are in the middle of the Pacific standings, you don’t get to choose who you play against. Even if the Avs were facing the Chicago Blackhawks or the San Jose Sharks—the two worst teams in the NHL point-wise—it’s incredible to witness the skill and precision to make the pass Malinski made tonight.
The Avalanche are staying in Alberta through the night as they face the Edmonton Oilers on Friday evening. If they get a victory then, their confidence should be sky-high as Edmonton leads the Pacific division.
UPDATE: In his postgame interview, Malinski admitted that he did not actually see Necas. Instead, Malinski was trying to clear the puck out of the zone as to eliminate the Flames from getting a scoring chance.
Either way, it was a very intelligent decision by Malinski and one that he should get praises from for a long time.