DENVER — Through the first two months of 2022, the Colorado Avalanche were uncommonly healthy and wildly successful.

Adversity rolled in again this week. Coach Jared Bednar said captain Gabriel Landeskog would have knee surgery Monday and the team hopes to have him back sometime in the final 22 regular-season games. From March 3-13, the Avalanche picked up three of 10 standings points.

But they fluffed their Western Conference cushion Sunday at Ball Arena, beating the second-place team and opening up a 10-point gap between them in the standings. Nathan MacKinnon scored twice and the Calgary Flames went down, 3-0, at Ball Arena.

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Darcy Kuemper made a career-high 46 saves and earned his fourth shutout of the season. He also set a new career high for wins in a season with his 28th.

He pushed off the post and lunged to make a save in the final minute. The crowd chanted his name.

“It’s a lot of fun getting that kind of support,” he said.

Mikko Rantanen had the empty netter.

MacKinnon insured the lead he created in the first period. Rantanen won a faceoff to MacKinnon, immediately to his right. MacKinnon put a quick shot on net that found its way through.

Flames goaltender Dan Vladar (29 saves) shut down everyone else.

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Earlier, MacKinnon hit the 20-goal mark for the fifth straight season and seventh time in his nine-year career. During a penalty to former teammate Nikita Zadorov, MacKinnon moved up to the faceoff dot and picked his shot.

After a slow goal-scoring start by his standards, MacKinnon has 12 in past 13 games.

“There was never a doubt that he can score,” Rantanen said. “We’ve seen it before.

“He’s playing really well. He was playing well before that, too, but it just wasn’t going in. I’m really happy for him and it’s good for our team.”

There were two more close calls before the first period break. Alex Newhook tried the MacKinnon method, winding up from a similar spot on the power play. The puck clanged off each post and pushed away from the goal line. Newhook set off the horn and a brief Ball Arena celebration, but the score didn’t budge.

Calgary’s Elias Lindholm almost made it three goals in two games against the Avalanche this season, but his shot dribbling toward the goal line was swept away by Colorado defenseman Devon Toews.

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The second line of Newhook, Nazem Kadri and Andre Burakovsky led the charge in a second period Colorado controlled.

The Avalanche played down a man from the opening puck drop, rolling out a partial fourth line. No one was recalled to fill in for Landeskog or defenseman Samuel Girard (lower body). Valeri Nichushkin moved to Landeskog’s place on the top line and put four shots on net.

Kuemper and his teammates held off about six minutes of defensive-zone pressure to end the game. Vladar was pulled for two of it.

Bednar acknowledged the impact of the Flames’ busy schedule, travel and daylight saving time, but he was pleased with his team’s effort in an “important” game.

“Calgary, Carolina – it’s good to take the positives out of it, but you’ve got to find a way to win some of those games. That’s what we talked about this morning,” he said. “It’s not just moral victories – playing well, coming up a little bit short – because those are the teams we’re facing in the playoffs.”