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CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Maxime Talbot scored the tying goal and set up the go-ahead score 54 seconds later in the second period to propel the Colorado Avalanche to a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Friday.
Colorado tied the game 1-1 by capitalizing on a mistake by Calgary goaltender Karri Ramo, who had played superb until that point.
Ramo was playing the puck behind the net, and his soft backhand pass intended for T.J. Brodie was intercepted by John Mitchell. Mitchell zipped a pass to Talbot who had an empty net to shoot at.
The goal at 18:00 was the first goal for Talbot in 16 games since being acquired Oct. 31 from the Philadelphia Flyers for Steve Downie.
Talbot made a terrific play on the same shift as the Avalanche took the lead for good.
He muscled defenseman Chris Butler off the puck with an aggressive forecheck and took the puck to the net, drawing Ramo toward him before sliding the puck to a wide open P.A. Parenteau, who made it 2-1.
Rookie Nathan MacKinnon scored his sixth goal to round out the scoring for Colorado. The Avalanche bounced back after getting routed 8-2 on Thursday night in Edmonton.
Kris Russell and Matt Stajan scored for Calgary, which had won two straight.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 26 stops in the Colorado net to improve to 7-0-0 and continue his outstanding season as Semyon Varlamov's backup. It was his second victory against the Flames, having stopped 30 of 32 shots in a 3-2 win in Denver on Nov. 8.
Ramo, coming off consecutive starts in which he gave up just one goal, had 22 saves to fall to 4-5-1.
Colorado surged in front 3-1 at 2:28 of the third period on the third goal in four games for MacKinnon.
Calgary was on the rush but when Lee Stempniak's stick broke on his shot attempt, the Avalanche headed back up ice and Gabriel Landeskog found MacKinnon alone at the side of the net for the score.
The Flames got a late goal from Stajan when he redirected Mike Cammalleri's pass in with 1:55 left.
After being outshot 11-5 and falling behind 1-0 after the opening 20 minutes, the Avalanche played much better in the second period and had two chances to tie it before they eventually got the game back to even.
Ramo made a superb pad stop to rob Ryan O'Reilly on a one-timer from the slot.
Later in the period, Flames captain Mark Giordano dropped in front of a shot to stop a chance by Avalanche defenseman Andre Benoit.
Calgary scored the only goal of the first period connecting on the power play at 7:01.
With Stempniak providing the screen, Russell's slap shot from the blue line found the corner behind Giguere, who was upset after the play saying Stempniak had interfered with him.
Giguere was so mad about the play he shoved the net over, drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
Notes: LW Lane MacDermid made his Flames debut. MacDermid was acquired Nov. 22 from Dallas for a sixth-round draft pick. ... Missing for Calgary was C Joe Colborne (flu) and LW Brian McGrattan (lower body). ... Not in the lineup for Colorado was D Jan Hejda (knee), who was hurt in the loss to the Oilers. .... A perfect 17-0-0 when scoring first, the Avalanche improved to 3-7-0 when allowing the first goal.
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