Martin Necas had a goal and had two assists, and Gabriel Landeskog also scored for the Avalanche (52-16-10), who secured the best regular-season record in the NHL for the fourth time in franchise history with four games left to play. Mackenzie Blackwood made 28 saves.
Colorado clinched the top seed in the Western Conference and won the Central Division title with a 3-1 win against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
Tyson Gross scored his first NHL goal, and Dustin Wolf made 38 saves for the Flames (32-37-9), who were eliminated from playoff contention for the fourth consecutive season after a 4-3 overtime loss at the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.
Landeskog scored a power-play goal to make it 1-0 Colorado at 18:44 of the first period. He one-timed MacKinnon’s cross-crease pass past the left leg of Wolf from the right post.
Necas extended it to 2-0 at 15:01 of the second period after he cut across the top of the crease, waited out a sprawling Wolf, and sent a wrist shot short side past the glove. Necas finished a give-and-go with MacKinnon in the left corner, who fed him as he cut through the left circle.
Gross cut it to 2-1 at 17:08 of the third period with the goalie pulled for the extra attacker when he backhanded home the rebound of Matvei Gridin’s initial shot from the top of the crease. Gridin’s shot hit Blackwood up high and came across to Gross at the left side of the crease for the play past the right leg.
Gross appeared to tie it 2-2 at 18:31 when he located another rebound of Gridin’s shot off the right post and put it over the leg of Blackwood. Colorado challenged the play for offside, and the goal was overturned after video review.
MacKinnon scored into the empty net at 19:05 for the 3-1 final, setting a career high with his NHL-leading 52nd goal.
