DENVER (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon had open ice, plenty of speed and a steely determination not to let this one get away. Not after this rally.

MacKinnon scored with 4:30 remaining on a breakaway to complete Colorado’s comeback from two goals down in the third period as the Avalanche beat the Calgary Flames 6-5 on Monday night.

Trailing 5-3 entering the final period, Ross Colton scored with 8:40 remaining and Mikko Rantanen tied it up with 6:29 left.

MacKinnon scored the winner after Rantanen delivered a long pass to Valeri Nichushkin who dished it over to MacKinnon in stride. MacKinnon simply took it from there.

“We can take the positivity out of that game," MacKinnon said. "No one was deflated. Even after 5-3 we kept pushing and kept a good attitude.”

The goal by MacKinnon spoiled a big game by Nazem Kadri, who had a goal, assist and a roughing penalty against his former team.

Ivan Prosvetov took over in net for Alexandar Georgiev in the third period and stopped all 11 shots he faced.

The Flames used a four-goal second period to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead heading into the third period. It didn't hold. Calgary pulled goaltender Dan Vladar for an extra skater in the waning seconds but couldn't tie it up.

Andrew Mangiapane, Blake Coleman, Connor Zary and Yegor Sharangovich also had goals for the Flames against a mistake-prone Colorado defense.

“It was looking pretty good there for a while,” Kadri said. “Couple of mental lapses — you can’t do that against good teams.”

Tomas Tatar scored his first goal in a Colorado sweater after being signed in September, Cale Makar added a power-play goal and Ben Meyers, just called up from the Colorado Eagles of the AHL, knocked in another.

Makar scored his 73rd career goal to move into sole possession of second place on the franchise's all-time goals list for defensemen. He's two away from tying Tyson Barrie's mark.

MacKinnon also had an assist on Makar’s goal and extended his point streak to 12 games. It’s the sixth point streak of a dozen games or more in his career.

“It shows a lot in terms of how deep guys can dig,” Makar said. “Especially going into the third.”

Kadri had quite a night against a team he was with for three seasons. He gave the Flames an early 1-0 lead with his 250th career goal in the first period and then helped tie it up at 2-apiece in the second with a pass that Mangiapane knocked in.

He rankled Georgiev, too, who pushed Kadri after a play down low. Kadri didn't back down and both drew penalties, with Ryan Johansen serving the one for Georgiev.

“He gave me a pretty good shot with his blocker and I tried to give him a shot back and I missed,” Kadri explained. “We both got penalties for some reason.”

Prosvetov took over for Georgiev. Georgiev allowed five goals on 22 shots.

Kadri said after the morning skate that memories of helping the Avalanche to the 2022 Stanley Cup title instantly flood back whenever he enters Ball Arena. He took a moment to glance up at the banners the team won while in Denver.

Colton fired up the Flames 15 seconds into the game when he delivered a hit on Chris Tanev that sent the Calgary defenseman into the boards. Tanev didn’t return.

UP NEXT

Flames: At Vegas on Tuesday as part of a three-game trip.

Avalanche: Close out a five-game homestand Wednesday against Buffalo.

Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen takes offense to comments from teammate's dad, breaks out of slump

DENVER (AP) — Colorado Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen said he had added incentive for his big game Monday night after taking offense to comments from the dad of one of his teammates concerning his offseason work ethic.

Ismo Lehkonen, a hockey analyst and the father of injured Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen, told Finnish public broadcaster YLE earlier Monday that Rantanen's recent slump may be because “he didn’t have a terribly swell summer.” Rantanen responded with a goal and two assists, including a pass that helped set up the winner by Nathan MacKinnon in a 6-5 comeback win over the Calgary Flames.

“It feels good. It’s actually one thing where I got a lot of extra energy,” Rantanen told media after the game. “One of our Finnish NHL player’s dad was talking (expletive) about me in the media, that I didn’t train last summer like I used to do. (He) was making things up. That was for him. If you talk (expletive), it’s going to come back at you.”

Rantanen’s teammate and fellow countryman, Artturi Lehkonen, has been sidelined with a neck injury since Nov. 9 when he crashed head-first into the boards. They were both integral pieces when the Avalanche won the 2022 Stanley Cup title.

In a translation of the story on the YLE website, Ismo Lehkonen said of Rantanen: "There were a lot of (parties) going on, he had to be in Helsinki and all that. He probably wanted to cool down on purpose after hard years, and maybe he didn’t do sports quite the same way as before."

The 27-year-old Rantanen leads the team with 13 goals despite a recent slump. His game-tying tally in the third period Monday was his first goal since Nov. 22.

Before the game against Calgary, Rantanen, who had an Avalanche record 55 goals last season, said breaking out of a drought is all about learning from past games but not dwelling on them.

“It’s tough when you want to be effective and you want to score and you want to help because that’s my role, to help the team offensively,” said Rantanen, whose team leads the Central Division. “It rubs you the wrong way mentally, but that’s when good players, great players — you’ve got to just stick with it. You can’t fold, you can’t quit because nothing is going your way. ... You've just got to stay with it.”

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar complimented Rantanen’s performance after Monday's game, saying the 6-foot-4, 215-pound forward was “a horse tonight.” Bednar said Rantanen took a step in the right direction in the previous game when he took six shots in a 5-2 loss to Philadelphia. Rantanen had eight shots Monday against Calgary to help the Avalanche snap a two-game slide.

“Oftentimes, when you start doing things the right way, it doesn’t just turn around overnight. You have to stick with it,” Bednar explained. “You have to believe that will get you out of your slump.”