Postgame: Avalanche’s Martin Necas Hits 100 Points in Calgary

Sergei Belski-Imagn ImagesSergei Belski-Imagn Images

With 17 seconds remaining in what was likely his final game of the regular season, Martin Necas recorded an assist to reach 100 points on the season. Necas has 38 goals and 62 assists in 78 games. The Avalanche have one game remaining before the playoffs, as they’ll host the Seattle Kraken at Ball Arena on Thursday.

Necas, and several other top players, will likely sit out to rest before the first round begins over the weekend.

The Avs went on to defeat the Calgary Flames 3-1 on Tuesday. They improved to 54-16-11 on the season, and their 119 points match their franchise best from 2000-01. They can pass that mark by collecting one point in the season finale.

Artturi Lehkonen, Gabe Landeskog, and Nathan MacKinnon scored for the Avalanche, who finished the season with a sparkling 29-7-5 road record. No other team will finish with more than 24 wins away from home.

Cale Makar also returned to the lineup and had three assists. The Avs sat Brock Nelson and Devon Toews, allowing both veterans to get an extra rest day.

The Flames got on the board first at the 7:22 mark of the second period. Blake Coleman tallied his 20th to beat Mackenzie Blackwood. The Colorado netminder made 30 saves on 31 shots, including all 14 he faced in the final frame for his 23rd win of the season.

Colorado answered back with a sweet setup from Makar that went through Flames defenders and found Lehkonen back door. Lehkonen, who sat out the Edmonton game, nabbed his 21st goal of the season at the 11:25 mark.

Those were the only goals either team could get for more than a period. But with 4:53 remaining in the third, a shot from the point from Makar was redirected past goalie Dustin Wolf by Landeskog. The Avalanche’s captain got his 14th of the year, seven of which have come in 13 games since March 1st.

From that moment on, the focus shifted toward getting Necas his 100th point. This was something they tried to accomplish several times throughout the game. At one point, Colorado had a lengthy 5-on-3 power play and both MacKinnon and Makar spent the entire time setting Necas up for one-timers from the left circle.

Necas finished the game with a team-leading five shots on goal on eight attempts. Once the Flames pulled their goalie, Necas remained on the ice in an effort to get one last crack at 100. The Avs had a faceoff deep in their zone. Before the drop of the puck, they huddled together to plan a way to get Necas on the scoresheet.

Eventually, Necas got the puck along the boards in the defensive zone, sent it to Makar, who found MacKinnon racing into the offensive zone. Colorado’s superstar center and the likely Rocket Richard trophy winner, went around the Flames defender before tapping home his 53rd of the season to make it happen.

Good: Joining Elite Czech Company

After the game, Necas told Altitude TV that he really wanted to reach 100 points because not many players from his home country had done so. This made me want to research it. Obviously, Jaromir Jagr came to mind right away. Jagr hit 100+ points five times in his illustrious career. There’s also David Pastrnak, who got to 100 for the fourth year in a row earlier this week with the Boston Bruins.

But who else had done it?

It turns out, that was it. Necas A native of Nove Mesto na Morave, Necas is just the third player from Czechia to hit 100 points.

Milan Hejduk had 98 points with the Avalanche in 2002-03 — the year he won the Rocket Richard trophy by scoring 50 goals.

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