In Denver, the Arizona Coyotes let another one slip away from them on Sunday..
Leading 3-2 in the middle frame, the Coyotes surrendered two goals to the Avalanche in 4-3 loss.
Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves in the win.
The Avs improved to 34-18-4,
“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.”
Colorado took a 1-0 lead on a strike by Ross Colton at 4:10 of the opening stanza.
The Coyotes replied with a marker from Matt Dumba at 7:48 off a rebound.
“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,” the Coyotes’ Alex 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.”
Arizona regained the lead when Lawson Crouse hit off the power play at 12:20 of the first period for a 2-1 advantage headed to the second period.
The Coyotes dropped to 23-27-4 off their ninth straight loss.
“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.”
The Avs’ Jack Johnson tied the game, 2-2, at 5:20 of the middle frame.
“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.”
The Coyotes again reclaimed the lead, 3-2, when Logan Cooley scored off a shot from high on the slot for midway through the second.
The lead lasted all of 21 seconds when Nathan MacKinnon poked home his own rebound for a 3-3 tie going into the third period.
MacKinnon now has an active 28-game points streak at home.
“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,” 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.”
In the third, Colorado’s Devon Toews scored the game-winner at 13:25 with a shot near the blue line for the 4-3 final count on the scoreboard.
“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,” the Avalanche’s 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.”
Karel Vejmelka made 33 saves in the loss.
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