Rapid Recap: Coyotes 3, Avalanche 0
Colorado can't find the back of the net in Arizona
by Ron Knabenbauer @RonKnab / ColoradoAvalanche.com
In the second half of a back-to-back, the Colorado Avalanche fell 3-0 to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes, and goaltender Darcy Kuemper stopped all 33 shots he faced. It was the first time this season that the Avs have been shutout.
Christian Dvorak and Conor Garland also scored for Arizona. Nick Shmaltz, Clayton Keller, Barrett Hayton, Alex Goligoski and Jordan Oesterle had assists.
Arizona went 1-for-2 on the power play, while Colorado finished 0-for-4 with the man advantage. The Avs outshot the Coyotes 33-28 in the game, including by a 26-12 margin in the final two periods of play.
THE GOALS
1st Period
6:40 ARI (0-1) - PPG, Christian Dvorak scored on a rebound in the crease off a shot from Phil Kessel.
15:52 ARI (0-2) - Phil Kessel scored from a tough angle at the right side of the goal.
2nd Period
15:52 ARI (0-3) - Conor Garland found the back of the net on a one-time shot from the low left circle.
3rd Period
No Scoring
Final: Coyotes - 3 | Avalanche - 0
3 STARS
- Darcy Kuemper (ARI): Posted a 33-save shutout
- Phil Kessel (ARI): Had a two-point game
- Christian Dvorak (ARI): Scored the first goal of the night, the game-winner
Selected by Arizona Coyotes Broadcast
POWER PLAYS
Colorado: 0 for 4
Arizona: 1 for 2
GOALTENDING BATTLE
Colorado: Pavel Francouz made his fourth start of the year and had 25 saves
Arizona: Darcy Kuemper denied all 33 shots he faced for his first shutout of the season
STAT OF THE NIGHT
Nathan MacKinnon's season-opening point streak ended at 13 games with the Avalanche's shutout loss to the Coyotes. Here is a look his historic run:
- Longest streak to open a campaign in Avalanche history (since 1995-96)
- Fourth longest such streak in Colorado/Quebec Nordiques franchise history
- Fourth longest streak to start a season in the last 20 years and was the longest since 2007-08 (17 games, Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg)
- Was the ninth player age 24 or younger to begin a year with such a point streak
- Fifth player in NHL history to record a season-opening point streak of nine or more games in consecutive seasons, joining Wayne Gretzky (four straight, 1982-86), Charlie Simmer (1979-81), Guy Lafleur (1975-77) and Rod Gilbert (1971-73). MacKinnon had a nine-game run to start the 2018-19 season.
- Was the longest active streak in the NHL and the only player to have registered points in each of his team's first 13 games
- Tied for his second longest point streak of his career
NOTEBOOK
It was the second half of a back-to-back set for Colorado, which played at home against Dallas on Friday… It was the third of 12 back-to-backs the squad will play in 2019-20… The Avs dropped to 1-2-0 in the second outing of consecutive-day sets… Colorado and Arizona were meeting in the second of three games they will play against one another this season… The Avs are now 1-1-0 against the Coyotes this year… The teams wrap up the season series on March 31 in Denver.
QUOTABLE
Forward Matt Nieto on the loss: "We can't expect to start like that and end up with the result that we want. Just digging ourselves in hole early. Even if we come on, we generated some chances, but playing from behind like, it's tough to do in this league."
BIG HIGHLIGHT
Video: COL@ARI: Francouz stymies Fischer's backhander
IMAGE OF THE GAME
Mind if I sit here?
ROSTER REPORT
Mark Barberio was the Avs' lone healthy scratch… Colorado changed up its top two lines to begin the game. Nathan MacKinnon centered a unit with J.T. Compher and Tyson Jost on the wings, while the trio of Andre Burakovsky, Joonas Donskoi and Nazem Kadri was reunited. Coach Jared Bednar mixed up his lines later in the game.
INJURY UPDATE
Gabriel Landeskog (lower body) is out indefinitely… Mikko Rantanen is week-to-week with a lower-body injury… Colin Wilson is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
UP NEXT
Colorado heads to Texas to take on the Dallas Stars to complete the two-game road trip on Tuesday. It will be the second time in three games that the Avs will play the Stars after hosting Dallas at Pepsi Center on Friday.
LINE COMBINATIONS
Based on start of the game
Forwards
17 Tyson Jost - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 37 J.T. Compher
95 Andre Burakovksy - 91 Nazem Kadri - 72 Joonas Donskoi
83 Matt Nieto - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 11 Matt Calvert
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 81 Vladislav Kamenev - 12 Jayson Megna
Defensemen
49 Samuel Girard - 6 Erik Johnson
28 Ian Cole - 8 Cale Makar
16 Nikita Zadorov - 27 Ryan Graves
Goaltenders
39 Pavel Francouz
31 Philipp Grubauer