Rapid Recap: Avalanche 3, Coyotes 2

The Colorado Avalanche began a four-game road trip with a 3-2 victory against the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night at Gila River Arena.
Colorado goaltender Hunter Miska made 16 saves for his first career NHL win, doing so against his former team.
Nazem Kadri had three points with a goal and two assists, and Mikko Rantanen also had a multi-point outing with a power-play goal to begin the game's scoring in the second period and an assist on Andre Burakovsky's marker early in the third frame. Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar had assists for Colorado, which outshot Arizona 28-18.

Phil Kessel and Drake Caggiula added late markers for the Coyotes.
The teams meet again on Saturday in Arizona to wrap up the back-to-back set.
Statistics
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Photo Gallery
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Highlights

THE GOALS

1st Period
No Scoring
2nd Period
1:43 COL (1-0) - PPG, Mikko Rantanen buried the puck in the low slot after Nazem Kadri moved it over to him following a rebound from Nathan MacKinnon's shot.
3rd Period
6:04 COL (2-0) - Andre Burakovsky took the pass from Nazem Kadri, controlled the puck in the slot and fired the puck into the top corner of the net.
11:00 COL (3-0) - Cale Makar passed to Nazem Kadri, who drove to the net and placed the puck between the goalie's pads.
18:24 ARI (3-1) - Phil Kessel ended the shutout in the final two minutes of play.
19:07 ARI (3-2) - Drake Caggiula knocked in the puck in the crease.
Final: Avalanche - 3 | Coyotes - 2

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 1 for 3
Arizona: 0 for 2

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Hunter Miska stopped the first 15 shots sent his way and 16-of-18 overall for his first career win.
Arizona: Adin Hill made 25 saves on 28 shots faced.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Nazem Kadri had a goal and two assists for his second three-point game of the season and the 16th of his career. In total, Kadri has three multi-point nights in 2020-21.

NOTEBOOK

Andre Burakovsky played in his 400th NHL game… Rookie Bowen Byram had his first fight of his career, dropping the gloves with Drake Caggiula at 3:14 of the third period… It was the first meeting since the teams played in the first round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs and the first of eight meetings during the regular season… Colorado and Arizona are playing in the same division this year for the first time in their histories … Colorado has scored the first goal in 12 of its 17 games this season, improving to 9-2-1... The PK unit has extinguished 38 of its last 41 short-handed situations...The Avalanche was beginning its third back-to-back of the season, improving to 2-1-0 in the first contest.

QUOTABLE

Andre Burakovsky on playing his 400th career NHL game: "A lot of fun being in the league for 400 games, it feels like yesterday I came to Washington (the team that drafted him). Time is flying when you're having fun. I've been playing with a lot of great players, and it's been a pleasure. It's been a lot of fun, and hopefully I got a couple more years."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

ROSTER REPORT

Goaltender Hunter Miska made his third start of the season. Colorado used 17 skaters with Matt Calvert being a late scratch. Defenseman Jacob MacDonald and forward Brandon Saad reentered the lineup, while Logan O'Connor and Conor Timmins were healthy scratches. Saad missed his first game of the season on Wednesday for the birth of his second child.

INJURY UPDATE

Matt Calvert (lower body) took warmup but did not play. Dennis Gilbert (upper body) is out four-to-six weeks after having surgery. Goaltender Pavel Francouz (lower body) and defensemen Erik Johnson (lower body) are out long term.

UP NEXT

The Avalanche takes on the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday to complete the third of now eight back-to-back sets on the season. Colorado continues its four-game road trip with two contests at the San Jose Sharks on Monday and Wednesday.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on the start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
20 Brandon Saad - 91 Nazem Kadri - 72 Joonas Donskoi
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 37 J.T. Compher - 95 Andre Burakovsky
41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 17 Tyson Jost
Defensemen
7 Devon Toews - 8 Cale Makar
27 Ryan Graves - 49 Samuel Girard
4 Bowen Byram - 34 Jacob MacDonald
Goaltenders
32 Hunter Miska
31 Philipp Grubauer