Former Avalanche winger Steve Reinprecht had three goals and an assist on the game-winner Wednesday night to lead the Phoenix Coyotes to a 5-2 victory over Colorado at the Pepsi Center.
The loss was the third straight at home for the Avs, who fell to 15-6 in Denver, and extended goalie Ilya Bryzgalov’s regulation unbeaten streak against Colorado to seven games.
Bryzgalov, waived by Anaheim last month, led the Ducks to a 2006 second-round playoff series sweep over the Avs. Colorado beat him and the Ducks last season in a shootout, but Bryzgalov got the shootout win Monday in the first meeting of the season between Colorado and Phoenix.
The Coyotes scored two empty-net goals after Reinprecht set up Shane Doan’s goal at 16:49 of the third period, breaking a 2-2 tie.
The Coyotes, who scored twice within 11 seconds Monday, struck twice in 1:02 on Wednesday. Reinprecht got both — each on a rebound in front of the left post.
The former came on a power play, and when Avs goalie Peter Budaj appeared close to having control of the rebound off a Shane Doan shot. Reinprecht slapped at Budaj’s glove and the puck found its way in.
The latter was a gimmie off a long blast by defenseman Keith Yandle. The puck bounced right in front of Reinprecht, and he easily backhanded it in.
Colorado cut its deficit in half at 17:40 on Marek Svatos’ 14th goal of the season, one behind team-leaders Paul Stastny and Milan Hejduk. Jaroslav Hlinka threw the puck at the crease and Svatos back-handed in his own rebound.
Svatos got his 15th goal 8:02 into the second period. Andrew Brunette made a nice pass from behind the net and Svatos one-time it above Bryzgalov’s glove.
In the month of January, Colorado is 84-31-24-8 since 1995-96, its first season in Denver. That’s the NHL’s best record for the month during that time.
