Recap: Coyotes Win High-Scoring Thriller vs. Avalanche

GLENDALE --Fourteen Coyotes notched at least one point on Saturday night as Arizona emerged from a goal-scoring slump and beat the Colorado Avalanche, 6-4, in a wild game played at Gila River Arena.
Brad Richardson scored twice, including the game-winning goal at 16:21 of the third period, for Arizona, which ended a three-game losing streak. Richard Panik, Derek Stepan, Christian Fischer and Conor Garland also produced goals for the Coyotes, who led 4-1 after two periods, but allowed Colorado to score three times in the third to get back in the game.

"If we would've lost that one, it would've been a heartbreaker," Richardson said. "But it definitely feels good when you're on the right end."
The Coyotes scored just two goals during their losing skid, but matched that total in the first period against the Avs. They added two more tallies in the second period and seemed en route to an easy win.
But Colorado, which played Friday night at home, refused to quit and scored three goals within a 6:29 span of the third period. Nathan MacKinnon's nifty wrist shot from between the circles with 8:09 left in the game tied the score.
With the game seemingly headed for overtime, Richardson delivered the knockout punch for the Coyotes when he beat Avalanche goalie Pavel Francouz with an innocent shot through traffic, which he launched from just inside the blue line. Oliver Ekman-Larsson set the goal up nicely by keeping the puck within Colorado's zone with a subtle poke.

"I literally tried to shoot as quick as I could on that," Richardson said. "It went through I think two of their guys and I don't think (Francouz) saw it at all. It just surprised him."

Francouz, playing his first NHL game, stopped 21 of 22 shots in relief of Philipp Grubauer, whom Colorado pulled after he allowed four goals on 16 shots.
The Coyotes limited Colorado's top line of MacKinnon, Miko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog to just three points. The trio entered the game with 155 points combined.
"I'm proud of the guys," Coyotes Head Coach Rick Tocchet said. "We had a lot of adversity but we hung in there. (Richardson's line) did a great job against their top line. They're tough to defend. They're a world-class line and they win a lot of games for that team."
Richardson took a game-high seven shots, won 15 of 26 face-offs and added an empty-net goal to bring his season total to 10, which leads the Coyotes. He scored just three last season.
"I'm happy for 'Richie' because he works hard," Tocchet said. "He told me this summer, too, after we signed him, 'I'm going to definitely score a lot more than I did last year.' Obviously he's holding his end of the bargain."

• Garland scored his first NHL goal when he beat Grubauer with a breakaway shot at 8:28 of the second period.
"It's nice," Garland said. "Obviously when you get called up you want to help the team win and produce. I hadn't been doing that, but I helped the team get a win tonight."

Garland punctuated his feat with a memorable 'celly.'
"I try to tell myself not to (celebrate)," Garland said with a smile. "But I had no choice, I mean I kind of just went numb. It was tough, actually. I don't want to look at it."

• Ilya Lyubushkin assisted on Garland's goal. It was his first point in the NHL in his 16th game since signing with the Coyotes after a five-year career in the KHL.
• Goalie Adin Hill stopped 23 of 27 shots to raise his record to 6-3-0 after 10 appearances. Hill's 2.20 goals-against average ranks fourth among NHL goalies who have played at least 10 games.
• Clayton Keller assisted on Stepan's goal to bring his career point total to 91 points (31 goals, 60 assists). That's the most points produced by a player before his 21st birthday in Coyotes history.

• Ray Whitney, who played 177 games for the Coyotes from 2010-12, including 20 in the playoffs, dropped the ceremonial first puck.