In Denver Wednesday night, the Arizona Coyotes rode a 25-save performance from Antti Raanta and defeated the Colorado Avalanche, 3-1.
The Coyotes potted a goal in each period; Tobias Rieder, Alex Goligoski and Lawson 
Crouse scored for the Yotes.
“I thought we did a really nice job,” Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet said. “It’s not like we gave them a lot of chances. They got some high-end talent and they hit a couple crossbars, but I thought we did a nice job defensively and we scored some key goals.”
Mikko Rantanen had the lone strike for the Avs who dropped to 17-16-3 with the loss.
“We had some good jump. I liked our jump tonight. It’s tough, three days off without skating and you have to travel. It was a good character win for us,” Tocchet said of the Coyotes efforts.
It was a dismal effort from Colorado who thumped the Coyotes in Glendale ahead of the break.
“I didn’t think we were willing to skate the puck,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “I thought we were light on the puck for most of the night. Our execution was poor, especially for the first two periods. Combine those three things and it turns out you have 13 shots on goal. It’s not enough.
“I thought they played hard, they played a good game. You have to give them some credit, but we have to be a lot better than that the first two periods if we want to win the hockey game.”
The Avs hit a mine full of iron in the third period.
“We should have scored at least a couple goals there, and their goalie played pretty well,” Rantanen said. “Everyone knows it’s one we should have had. Three points out of a playoff spot, we can’t lose these games, especially at home.”
[WATCH: All Coyotes vs. Avalanche highlights]
Semyon Varlamov, who had 24 saves in taking the loss.
“We were rusty at the start of the first, a little sleepy. We get going at the end of the second, and obviously in the third we push. We had some chances we weren’t able to capitalize on, and their goalie made some key saves at key times,” the Avs’ Gabriel Landeskog said after the game.
You must be logged in to post a comment.