MacKinnon extends home point streak to 26, Avalanche defeat Coyotes

DENVER -- Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist to extend his season-opening home point streak to 26 games, and the Colorado Avalanche handed the Arizona Coyotes their ninth straight loss with a 4-3 win at Ball Arena on Sunday.

MacKinnon has 55 points (22 goals, 33 assists) during his home point streak, which moved past Bobby Orr (1974-75 with the Boston Bruins) for the second-longest to start a season in NHL history. Wayne Gretzky owns the record at 40 games (1988-89 with the Los Angeles Kings).

"It's an incredible feat, but when you watch him day in and day out, sometimes we can get spoiled. So, I'm not surprised,” Avalanche defenseman Jack Johnson said. “The way he prepares every day and the way he takes care of himself, on top of his natural abilities, I'm not surprised. If there's anyone that could do it, it's him.”

Johnson had a goal and an assist, and Bowen Byram had two assists for the Avalanche (34-18-4), who won for just the second time in seven games since the All-Star break (2-4-1). Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves.

“I liked the game in a lot of ways for us, and to get the result is huge,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “My feeling is they're kind of going through the exact same thing we were, right? Like, they were going to be digging in and paying attention to all the things that they need to to have success as well. It's a good hockey team. They've given us trouble for the last couple years, so to be able to get the result we wanted, I think, is huge.”

Matt Dumba had a goal and an assist, and Matias Maccelli had two assists for the Coyotes (23-27-4), who are 0-8-1 in their past nine games. Karel Vejmelka made 33 saves.

"It's extremely frustrating because we want to win. We want to win. It's not a league of feel-good, it's not a league of excuses. We want to win for our fans,” Arizona coach André Tourigny said. “I'm super proud of the way the guys worked. The guys, they battled. They took the lead and we came back. We played hard. ... We did a lot of good things and could not seal the deal.

“It's looks like we're in that kind of a slump right now where whatever we do, there's always a bad bounce or something, but (I'm) extremely proud of the effort of the boys.”

Ross Colton gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 4:10 of the first period, receiving a return pass from Miles Wood as he cut to the net before scoring five-hole past a screened Vejmelka.

Dumba tied it 1-1 at 7:48 on the rebound of Alex Kerfoot's initial shot.

"We had lots of conversations over the last few days and weeks, it's just about going out there and doing it. We got to ramp up the intensity, the work ethic, details of our game,” Kerfoot said. “Can't be too focused on the results. Just go out there and play to the level that we're capable of and see where the chips fall.”

Lawson Crouse gave Arizona a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 12:20 of the first. He kicked Maccelli’s centering pass to his stick before beating Georgiev blocker side from the slot.

Johnson tied it 2-2 at 5:20 of the second period, skating down the right wing and scoring with a wrist shot under the glove of Vejmelka.

“I got the room out there, and I was just trying to gain the middle of the ice to give myself some options,” Johnson said. “[Josh Manson] was my partner out there, and it looked like they were going to duplicate on him, and they got their wires crossed a little bit up top. So, it allowed me to have a clear lane to the net.”

Logan Cooley put Arizona back in front 3-2 at 9:52 when he beat Georgiev glove side from the high slot on a 4-on-2 rush.

MacKinnon responded 21 seconds later to tie it 3-3, jamming in his own rebound at the left post.

Devon Toews gave Colorado a 4-3 lead at 13:25 of the third period, taking a touch pass from Jonathan Drouin and scoring with a wrist shot from above the circles through a screen.

“There's still a lot of things in our game that need to be cleaned up detail-wise, and it showed at certain points tonight," Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar said. "But overall, I think we never felt like we were out of this game, and I think that's how it should always be regardless of the score. So for us, I think a lot of guys played simple tonight, and it showed because a lot of different guys were on the score sheet.”

NOTES: MacKinnon has 91 points (33 goals, 58 assists) in 56 games this season. He is the fastest player to reach 90 points in a season in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history since Peter Stastny in 1987-88 (56 games). … Crouse's goal was his 20th of the season and 100th in the NHL. ... Arizona (4:17) and Colorado (4:54) each had a goal overturned in the third period following a challenge for offside.