Coyotes Fall to Avalanche in Final Game of Road Trip

STATS

Alex Kerfoot scored and Connor Ingram made 22 saves, but the Arizona Coyotes fell 4-1 to the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Saturday.

Bowen Byram, Valeri Nichuskin, Josh Manson, and Fredrik Olofsson scored for the Avalanche (21-11-2), who won their second straight game. Alexandar Georgiev made 24 saves to earn his 17th win of the season.

The Coyotes will now have three days off for the NHL's holiday break before hosting the Avs on Wednesday.

"It’s a really good team," head coach André Tourigny said. "We’ve had success against them before, so we need to regroup and get ready. First of all, let’s enjoy some down time and make sure we forget about that game, move on, and enjoy the holiday. I think that’s an important time of the year for every team, I think a reset is important."

Byram opened the scoring at 8:37 of the first period, wristing a shot from the high slot up and over Ingram’s glove just as a power-play had expired.

The Avs used three second-period goals to take command, starting 1:27 into the frame after Nichushkin one-timed a pass from Nathan MacKinnon past Ingram. MacKinnon earned his 36th assist of the season on play while extending his point streak to 18 games.

Manson made it 3-0 at 13:29 of the second period, taking a pass from Fredrik Olofsson and skating into the high slot before wristing it past Ingram, and Olofsson made it 4-0 with seven seconds to play in the middle frame.

Arizona outshot Colorado 12-8 in the first period, but the Avalanche finished the final two frames with an 18-13 edge.

"I don’t think we had the answer when the pace of the game raised," Tourigny said. "I don’t think we raised our game. We stayed level, and they played way faster than us."

Kerfoot got the Coyotes on the board at 16:56 of the third period with a power-play goal to make it 4-1.

"They’re the measuring stick team in our division," he said. "They won a Cup in the last couple of years, and they have been right at the top of the league for a number of years. If we want to be pushing to be playing in meaningful games, and if we want to be a team that’s competing for a playoff spot, these are the types of teams that we need to bring our best efforts against."

The Coyotes are back in action on Wednesday after three days off for the holiday, facing Colorado at Mullett Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 pm MST, and the game will be broadcast on the following networks:

WHERE TO WATCH:
• Antenna: 61.1 Phoenix, 9.2 Tucson
• Phoenix Cable: Cox 95
• Phoenix Satellite: DirecTV Channel 61, Dish Network Channel 61
• Bullhead City / Lake Havasu: Optimum channel 6
• Flagstaff: American Cable channel 4, Optimum Cable channel 6
• Maricopa: Orbitel channel 11
• Pinal County: Mediacom channel 13
• Prescott: Sparklight channel 61
• Sedona: Optimum Cable channel 6
• Show Low / Winslow Sparklight channel 61
• Tucson: Cox channel 85, Xfinity channel 1179, Orbitel channel 208

WHERE TO LISTEN:
• Radio: ESPN 620
• Stream: Arizona Coyotes App, NHL Mobile App