Nichushkin Scores Shootout Winner as Avalanche Edge Coyotes 4-3

Got it done.
The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Arizona Coyotes 4-3 in the seventh round of a shootout on Sunday afternoon in the second of two-straight meetings and season finale against the Central Division opponents. The game also opened up a road back-to-back set for the Avalanche, whoare now 43-23-6 for their season record and moved up to second place in the Central Division standings.

For the Avalanche, Valeri Nichushkin scored the shootout winner and scored on the power play in regulation, while Mikko Rantanen (1G, 1A) and Bowen Byram also found the back of the net. Evan Rodrigues returned to the lineup for the first time since March 20 after suffering an upper-body injury. In net, Alexandar Georgiev turned aside 27 of the 30 shots he faced and all seven of Arizona's shootout attempts (which included two failed shot attempts).
For the Coyotes, Matias Maccelli, Christian Fischer and Clayton Keller scored. In between the pipes, Connor Ingram made 28 saves on 31 shots.

GAME SUMMARY:

While it wasn't the prettiest effort, the Avalanche persisted and picked up a crucial two-point victory over Arizona. After relinquishing a 2-0 lead and a 3-2 lead in regulation, the Avalanche came through in the seventh round of the shootout and now rank second in the Central Division standings.
Colorado and Arizona wrapped up the tight-checking first period with neither team having found the back of the net and shots tied at 5-5. The Avalanche killed off two penalties at 10:55 (Devon Toews for tripping) and at 14:10 (Cale Makar for elbowing). Late in the opening frame at 16:49, the Avalanche received their first man advantage of the night as Nathan Smith was sent to the box for tripping, but the unit was unable to convert.
Following the stalemate first frame, the Avalanche came out with an electric second period - outshooting the Coyotes 18-9 - and took a 2-0 lead with two quick strikes around the midway mark.
Rantanen broke the ice on a goal just seconds after Colorado received its second power play. Arizona came away with the kill, but the Avalanche capitalized on misplay by Ingram. The Arizona netminder skated out of his crease and attempted to rim the puck around the boards, where Rantanen used his body to pinch if off the wall, the winger snatched the puck - as a moment of confusion took over Ingram and the Arizona skaters - where Rantanen curled behind the net and tucked the puck into the net with his backhand at 9:30.

Holding an 11-3 shot advantage and a 1-0 lead, the Avalanche wasted no time in doubling their lead 2-0 as they did so just 1:16 after Rantanen's opening strike. On a quick play up ice, Byram carried the puck into the right faceoff circle before dropping a pass to Logan O'Connor, who fired a wrister on net.
Cogliano crashed the net where Ingram was unable to cover O'Connor's shot. Byram followed down to the doorstep and tapped the puck past the near post to double Colorado's lead at 10:46.

Down 2-0, the Coyotes put the pressure on in the third period where they outshot Colorado 15-6 and made things interesting enough as the score was briefly tied 2-2, and then eventually 3-3. Arizona's push was rewarded at just over the midway mark with a goal from Maccelli and then an equalizer less than a minute later from Fischer.
Arizona cut its deficit down 2-1 at 10:36. Jack McBain drove to the net and released a shot which Georgiev denied, but the rebound kicked out. From a sharp angle, Maccelli slipped the puck past Georgiev.
The Coyotes then tied the score up just 59 seconds later on a line change. As Kesselring carried the puck into the offensive zone, he zipped a sneaky pass to Fischer, who jumped on the ice from the bench, curled behind Colorado's defense and beat Georgiev with a wrist shot at 11:36.
After going 0-for-2 on their previous power-play attempts, the Avalanche capitalized on their third attempt to take a 3-2 lead at 13:11 as Arizona's Liam O'Brien was called for tripping at 11:49. On Colorado's power play, Devon Toews sent a feed into the right faceoff circle for Rantanen, who quickly fed the puck across the slot to the backdoor to Nichushkin. The Russian winger buried the pass on the backdoor to give the Avalanche a 3-2 lead and extend the team's streak to 11-straight games with a power-play goal.

And while the Avalanche made the most of their power play, the Coyotes didn't back off and tied the score up 3-3 at 15:28 with a strike from Keller, who has now scored four goals and seven points (4G, 3A) throughout all four regular-season meetings against the Avalanche.
The Keller, Barrett Hayton, Nick Schmaltz line worked the Avalanche zone and finally cashed in. Juuso Valimaki collected a pass from Schmaltz at the boards and dropped a feed into the slot for Keller. With Rodrigues marking him, the winger turned off him and fired a backhanded shot that beat Georgiev on the near side for the equalizer.
The Avalanche and Coyotes each put up a shot during overtime, but neither team was able to score.
The game was decided in the seventh round of a shootout as both netminders were locked in. For Arizona, Schmaltz, Keller, Maccelli (failed shot attempt), Travis Boyd (failed shot attempt), Hayton, Lawson Crouse and Fischer were all denied by Georgiev, while Rodrigues, MacKinnon, Rantanen (failed shot attempt), Makar (miss), Compher and Denis Malgin all were held off by Ingram.
In the seventh round, Nichushkin curled into the slot, slowed down, chopped over the puck with his stick, took the puck to his backhand to pull Ingram to the right, then dragged it pack and tucked it past Ingram's right skate to secure the two-point victory for the Avalanche.

NOTEWORTHY:

• Rantanen scored his team-leading 48th goal of the season. Rantanen's 48 goals rank third in the NHL behind Edmonton's Connor McDavid (60) and Boston's David Pastrnak (49).
• Byram buried his eighth goal of the season.
• Nichushkin tallied his 15th goal of the season and 10th on the power play.
• Rodrigues returned to the lineup for the first time since March 20 after suffering an upper-body injury. The winger skated alongside J.T. Compher and Alex Newhook, logged 14:00 minutes and fired off two shots.
• Georgiev made his 54th start of the season for the Avalanche, while his record improved to 34-15-5.
• Colorado finished the game 1-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
• The Avalanche have scored a power-play goal in 11-straight games.
• Kurtis MacDermid, Brad Hunt, Artturi Lehkonen (upper body), Pavel Francouz (lower body) and Josh Manson (lower body) were scratches for the Avalanche.

NEXT GAME:

The Avalanche conclude their road back-to-back set as they take on Anaheim on Monday night. The puck drops between the Avs and Ducks at 8:00 p.m. MT.