The Avalanche produced 43 shots but only scored one goal in a 2-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz.
Colorado saw its four-game winning streak end three seconds after Nathan MacKinnon and Gabe Landeskog were escorted to the dressing room for fighting majors in the game’s second-to-last shift and goalie Pavel Francouz on the bench for an extra attacker.
MacKinnon was high-sticked and bloodied by Arizona’s Dysin Mayo on the offensive-end draw with eight seconds remaining — at the same time Landeskog tangled with Jakob Chychrun in front of the net. All four were given fighting majors and Mayo and MacKinnon were also assessed a double-minor for high sticking and unsportsmanlike conduct, respectively.
The game restarted with three seconds to go but NHL-leading Colorado (40-11-4) lost the faceoff and fell for the first time since Feb. 21 at Boston.
Nathan MacKinnon takes a brutal high stick off the draw and shows the Avs that not only does he hate carbs…he really hates Mayo
— Drew Livingstone (@ProducerDrew_)
“I don’t think we were bad today. Some breakdowns there and it cost us a couple of goals and that’s the hockey game,” Avs winger Mikko Rantanen said. “We had some really good chances. We could have easily scored probably six scores tonight. But that’s hockey sometimes and their goalie was making some good saves.”
Arizona rallied from a 1-0 deficit. Colorado scored the first goal 5:48 into the second period. A wrist shot from defenseman Devon Toews sneaked through goalie Karel Vejmelka after Toews accepted a D-to-D pass from partner Cale Makar.
Makar extended his assists streak to a career-high 10 games. That’s most-ever by an Avalanche defenseman and tied with former center Joe Sakic — who had 10-game stretches in 2000 and 2007 — regardless of position. Makar’s 10-game points streak is second-longest by an Avs defenseman since Tyson Barrie had an 11-game stretch in 2018.
Veteran forward Loui Eriksson showed patience before snapping a loose puck down low past Francouz to tie it 1-1 late in the second period and young forward Nick Schmaltz gave the Coyotes their first lead of the game at 5:27 of the third.
Schmaltz took a headman pass from Clayton Keller to enter the Avs zone and drove to the crease from the right wing and lifted a backhander past Francouz.
Rebuilding Arizona is now 2-0 against Colorado in the recent meetings between the teams. The Coyotes ended the Avs’ club-record 18-game home winning streak on Feb. 1 with a 3-2 overtime triumph at Ball Arena.
“(Thursday’s) game reminded me of that game,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We’re up to one late and they scored with an empty-net — they just capitalized on on a higher percentage of their scoring chances than we did and they won in overtime. They played us tough (Thursday). You got to give them credit. They’re improving as a team as the year goes on.”
Colorado returns home to host the Calgary Flames on Saturday night at Ball Arena. The Avs then begin a three-game eastern trip that begins Monday at the New York Islanders.
Footnotes. The Avs’ scratches were again forward Valeri Nichushkin (injury) and defenseman Bo Byram (personal leave). Nichushkin has now missed two straight games from his fourth injury stint that has cost him a total of 18 games. Byram, who hasn’t played since Jan. 10 because of reoccurring concussion issues, again skated on his own Thursday at the team’s practice complex in Centennial.
