Arizona Coyotes (23-26-4) at Colorado Avalanche (33-18-4)
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Starting Time/Venue: 4 p.m. MST at Ball Arena in Denver, CO
To close out their four-game season series, the Arizona Coyotes travel to Denver and face the Colorado Avalanche tonight.
So far this season, Arizona is 2-1 against Colorado, with two wins at Mullett Arena and the loss coming away from home.
In their latest tilt against one another, the ‘Yotes were down 4-0 at one point in the second period, but miraculously scored five unanswered to claim a 5-4 overtime victory on Dec. 27. Sean Durzi buried the game-tying goal and posted three assists, including one on the winner from Jack McBain.
Moving onwards from then to now, the Coyotes have fallen out of a playoff spot as they are on an eight-game losing streak and have only netted two goals in the past two contests. In doing so, they are seventh in the Central Division and sit 13th in the Western Conference with 50 points.
Arizona are coming off of a 5-1 defeat to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night. Dylan Guenther was the only one to score for the ‘Yotes.
Even though they were successful in Tempe when they beat the Avalanche twice, the Coyotes will have a difficult test in the “Mile High City.”
Avalanche Notes
Colorado has one of the best home records across the NHL, 20-5 at Ball Arena.
Recently, they have battled through a difficult patch of games of their own, dropping five of their past six.
The Avalanche suffered a 6-3 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. Bowen Byram had a two-goal night in the defeat.
Nathan MacKinnon continues his dominant display in the NHL with the fifth most goals (32), and third in assists (57). Overall, his point total of 89 is second in the league, only Lightning star Nikita Kucherov (94) has more.
As a part of MacKinnon’s supporting cast, Mikko Rantanen has recorded 70 points (29 goals, 41 assists) while Cale Makar is not far behind with 60 (13 goals, 47 assists). For Makar, he has the second most points in the league amongst defenseman, trailing Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes (66).
Pushing their recent struggles to the side, the Avalanche rank second in the NHL with 3.69 goals-for per game, demonstrating just how lethal their offense can be on any given night.
Additionally, their special teams units are both in the top-third of the league, possessing the seventh-best power play (24.3%) and ninth-best penalty kill (81.5%).
With both teams trying to get back into the win column, the conclusion of this Central Division rivalry series this season will be highly-contested all the way to the final buzzer.
Stat Leaders
Goals: Coyotes – RW Clayton Keller: 21 | Avalanche – C Nathan MacKinnon: 32
Assists: Coyotes – RW Clayton Keller: 28 | Avalanche – C Nathan MacKinnon: 57
Points: Coyotes – RW Clayton Keller: 49 (21 goals, 28 assists) | Avalanche – C Nathan MacKinnon: 89 points (32 goals, 57 assists)
Injuries
Arizona Coyotes: D Troy Stecher (lower body – IR), C Travis Boyd (upper body – IR), F Liam O’Brien (upper body – IR), G Connor Ingram (lower body – OUT)
Colorado Avalanche: LW Gabriel Landeskog (knee – IR), G Pavel Francouz (groin – IR), RW Logan O’Connor (lower body – OUT), RW Valeri Nichuskin (personal – IR)
Coyotes C Barrett Hayton reclaims 1st line role after lengthy layoff
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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
