Avalanche recover to top Coyotes in OT, remain undefeated

DENVER --Andre Burakovsky scored at 3:29 of overtime, and the Colorado Avalanche remained undefeated with a 3-2 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Pepsi Center on Saturday.

Burakovsky skated inside Coyotes forward Clayton Keller to the bottom of the left circle and scored short side on Antti Raanta.
"I don't really know what their guy was doing, he kind of just let me walk right in the middle," Burakovsky said. "I was just a little bit patient, just trying to wait for something and not just try and take it to the net. I don't know why he wasn't skating with me, but I was wide open."
WATCH: [All Coyotes vs. Avalanche highlights]
Tyson Jost and Nazem Kadri scored, and Cale Makar had two assists for the Avalanche (4-0-0), who have won 10 straight regular-season home games. Pavel Francouz made 34 saves in his first NHL start.
"I was dreaming about a moment like this my whole life," said Francouz, who played two games in relief with Colorado last season. "I was just trying to enjoy every second of it. I was very happy that it worked out and we were able to win this game."
Nick Schmaltz and Michael Grabner scored, and Raanta made 29 saves for the Coyotes (1-2-1).
"We battled hard," Arizona coach Rick Tocchet said. "Other than that overtime goal, I thought we played well."

Kadri scored his first goal with the Avalanche on the power play to make it 1-0 at 6:57 of the third period. After getting the rebound of Makar's initial shot, Kadri toe-dragged Coyotes defenseman Jordan Oesterle before scoring short side from low in the left circle.
"Blocker save and it went straight to their guy," Raanta said. "Pretty much waiting that he's going to shoot a one-timer. Then he starts tracking it and you pretty much have to make your move. I was a little too aggressive with my push and opened up the short side."
Jost made it 2-0 at 8:46, putting in the loose puck after Makar's shot from the right point hit him in front.
"The second one was pretty much a point shot, hit their guy and bounced straight to his stick," Raanta said. "Sometimes it's tough bounces."

Grabner cut it to 2-1 at 9:27, scoring glove side on Francouz from the right face-off dot.
"Last year in the second half I saw this team coming back from leads where before, not so much," Tocchet said. "Now we have a belief if we keep doing the right things."
Schmaltz tied it 2-2 at 16:03 on a shot short side while cutting across the left circle.
"I think we're giving up a lot of quality chances," Burakovsky said. "I think when we're up 2-0 we should close the game there, but it's always good to find a way to win the game and be 4-0-0."
Coyotes forward Phil Kessel became the 335th player in NHL history, and the 21st active player, to skate in 1,000 regular-season games. He also played his 778th consecutive game.

They said it

"It was tight all night. There were chances both ways. They're a great team offensively. I think we did a pretty good job getting in behind them and playing in their zone for the most part, but they've got a lot of skill on the power play and they're going to make plays. Got down two, but we stuck with it."-- Coyotes forward Nick Schmaltz
"No better two guys I wanted to see score. When we're getting a little too cute as a team and then we get two goals just charging the net and throwing pucks at the net, that's what I like to see. Build some confidence so we can do that a little bit more often." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar on forwards Nazem Kadri and Tyson Jost
"It's a great group of guys and you could see they were trying to help me as much as possible. They were blocking shots and played really solid in the deep end. I can honestly say thank you to them." -- Avalanche goalie Pavel Francouz

Need to know

Coyotes defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson sustained an undisclosed injury blocking a shot in the first period and didn't return. "At this point I'm not sure, but I don't think it's going to be day to day," Tocchet said. "That's a big loss for us." … Makar became the first defenseman in Avalanche history to get at least one point in each of his first four regular-season games (five assists).

What's next

Coyotes:At the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)
Avalanche: At the Washington Capitals on Monday (5 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSWA, ALT, NHL.TV)