Even though instant replay almost erased two of their goals, Devon Toews netted the game-winner for the Colorado Avalanche as they defeated the Arizona Coyotes 4-3 at Ball Arena.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Toews, Ross Colton, Nathan MacKinnon and Jack Johnson all scored for the Avalanche (34-18-4). Alexandar Georgiev made 28 saves in the win.
Matt Dumba, Logan Cooley and Lawson Crouse had the goals for the Coyotes (23-27-4) who have lost nine-straight games. Karel Vejmelka stopped 34 shots.
After Bowen Byram dumped the puck into the Coyotes’ defensive zone, Miles Wood won a board battle before finding Colton open in front to score, giving the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 4:10 of the first period.
Then, Arizona evened up the game 1-1 7:48 in.
As he was falling, Dumba potted home a rebound after a shot from Alex Kerfoot bounced off of Georgiev’s leg pad onto his stick.
The Coyotes got on the board again courtesy of Crouse firing the puck past Georgiev on the power play to make it 2-1 ‘Yotes with 7:40 remaining in the first. Because of this, Crouse recorded his 100th goal of his NHL career.
With enough space to stride towards Vejmelka, Johnson walked in and scored glove side to tie the game 2-2 at 5:20 in the second period.
Cooley made two turnovers that led to a couple chance of chances for the Avs, but made up for the mistakes immediately.
Receiving a back pass by Maccelli, Cooley rifled the puck past Georgiev for a 3-2 lead at 9:52 of the second.
Then the Avalanche scored just 21 seconds later after MacKinnon took multiple jabs at Vejmelka following him making a big save. Eventually, MacKinnon’s persistent effort saw him forcing the puck over the goal line for a 3-3 game. Arizona would challenge for goaltender interference, but the officials looked at it again and declared it a good goal.
Nate the great!#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/7V2Ppu6INX
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) February 19, 2024
The common theme of going to review didn’t happen just once, but three times during the contest.
Receiving a flip pass from Jack McBain, Kerfoot went five hole on Georgiev to score, but Colorado themselves challenged for offsides on the Coyotes’ offensive zone entry and were successful that time.
37 seconds later, Avalanche F Jonathan Drouin buried a supposed goal but his was wiped as well after Mikko Rantanen was offsides prior to Drouin’s shot.
Toews got the deciding tally by firing the puck through a screen in front of Vejmelka with 6:43 left in the third to go up 4-3.
Arizona tried to fight back late with pulling Vejmelka for an extra attacker, but Georgiev and the Avalanche shut them down to the final horn.
Next Games
Coyotes: Home vs. Edmonton Oilers (37-13-6) on Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. MST
Avalanche: Home vs. Vancouver Canucks (32-18-1) on Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. MST
Coyotes make multiple lineup alterations for game vs. Avalanche
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers the Arizona Coyotes, Cardinals and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account @AlecCipollini
