Makar and MacKinnon Pace Avalanche in 3-1 Win Over Coyotes

Closing the gap.

The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Arizona Coyotes 3-1 on Friday night as they concluded theirthree-game homestand at Ball Arena. The meeting marked the first of back-to-back meetings against the Coyotes. The Avalanche are now 42-23-6 for their season record and ranks in third place (90 points) in the Central Division standings (two points behind first-place Dallas and only trail Minnesota by one point).
For the Avalanche Cale Makar (1G, 2A) and Nathan MacKinnon (1G, 2A) paced the Avalanche with three-point outings while J.T. Compher netted power play goal. Makar and Erik Johnson both returned to the lineup after being sidelined with respective injuries. Valeri Nichushkin handed out two assists. In net, Alexandar Georgiev turned aside 17 of the 18 shots he faced.
For the Coyotes, Clayton Keller scored the lone goal. Karel Vejmelka made 28 saves on 31 shots. With the loss, the Coyotes were officially eliminated from playoff contention.

GAME SUMMARY:

After dropping a 5-2 loss to Pittsburgh on Wednesday - which snapped a six-game win streak - the Avalanche got back in the win column with a clutch 3-1 win over their Central Division opponents in the Coyotes. Both MacKinnon and Makar recorded three-point nights as the Avalanche received a boost to their blueline with the returns to the lineup from Makar and Johnson.
Colorado and Arizona finished the first period with the score locked 1-1 as the Avalanche got on the board with a power-play strike from MacKinnon and the Coyotes evened things up late in the frame.
The first period featured tight checking from both sides and wasn't until 11:37 that the first penalty was called as Andrew Cogliano drew a hooking penalty on Cogliano. On the Avalanche's power play, Valeri Nichushkin dug out the puck from the wall and sent it out to the point for Makar. The defenseman snapped a pass to the right faceoff circle for MacKinnon, who wired a wrist shot past Vejmelka to give Colorado a 1-0 lead and marked the 10th-straight game that the team has converted on the man advantage, which is the second longest streak in franchise history (14, 1995).

Late in the frame, Arizona found the back of the net with a goal from their top line. J.J. Moser sent a cross-ice pass into Colorado's defensive zone. Nick Schmaltz chased the puck down and turned and sent a pass into the slot for Keller, who skated onto the puck, stickhandled and popped his shot over Vejmelka's glove at 18:57. Arizona also finished the first period with five blocked shots.
Neither team managed to procure a lead in the second period, but the Avalanche did generate a plethora of Grade A chances as they outshot the Coyotes 12-6, but were denied by solid netminding from Vejmelka.
Colorado began to title the ice just over the midway mark in the middle frame and pick up some momentum. Vejmelka denied Nichushkin in the slot around the 12-minute mark and then Makar rang a blistering one timer off the crossbar on the same shift.
With just under five minutes left in the period, Makar accelerated carrying the puck from the blueline all the way to the near post, made a move and took the puck around the cage where he attempted to jam it in, but the wraparound was denied.
At 15:27, Rantanen went to the box for tripping. While it was Arizona's first power play of the night, the Avalanche nearly scored on a shorthanded breakaway from Nichushkin and another attempt from Cogliano moments later, but Vejmelka smothered both to keep it a 1-1 game heading into the final 20 minutes of play.
Following a persistent second period, the Avalanche kept pushing in the third period and were rewarded to take a 2-1 lead at 6:41. On a dominant shift in which the Avalanche cycled the puck around the offensive zone - hemming in Arizona's defense - they broke through. MacKinnon sent the puck out to the point to Makar, who fired a high shot on net. At the net front, Rantanen screened Vejmelka as Makar's sizzling shot hit off the post and in.

The Avalanche then extended their lead 3-1 on another power play strike as they went on their man advantage at 10:11 as Milos Kelemen hooked Nichushkin. On Colorado's second power play of the night, MacKinnon picked up his third point as he sent the puck to Makar. From distance, the blueliner threw a shot on net. Vejmelka made the initial stop with his pad, but Compher put away the loose puck at the near post at 11:17 to secure the 3-1 win.

NOTEWORTHY:

• MacKinnon netted his 31st goal of the season and his ninth goal on the power play. The centerman extended his point streak to a season-high 11 games where he totaled 18 points (7G, 11A) in that span. MacKinnon also furthered his home point streak to 19 games, which ranks the second longest home point streak in franchise history (Joe Sakic 23 in 2000-01).
• Johnson returned to the lineup ahead of schedule after being sidelined since Feb. 11 with a broken ankle. The blueliner was paired with Jack Johnson, logged 14:35 minutes, fired off two shots, threw three hits, and blocked two shots.
• Makar returned to the lineup after missing two games due to injury. The blueliner skated alongside Devon Toews, posted three points (1G, 2A), skated 25:14 minutes (3:07 power play) and fired two shots.
• Georgiev made his 53rd start of the season for the Avalanche, while his record improved to 33-15-5.
• Colorado finished the game 2-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.
• The Avalanche have scored a power-play goal in 10-straight games.
• Kurtis MacDermid, Brad Hunt, Evan Rodrigues (upper body), Artturi Lehkonen (upper body), Pavel Francouz (lower body) and Josh Manson (lower body) were scratches for the Avalanche.

NEXT GAME:

The Avalanche open up a two-game road trip as they place Arizona again on Sunday afternoon. The puck drops between the Avs and Coyotes at 1:00 p.m. MT.