ARIZONA COYOTES NOTES:
3 HARD LAPS
• Arizona dropped its second consecutive game on Wednesday, this time in OT, but is 6-2-3 since the NHL’s trade deadline (March 3) and 11-5-6 since the All-Star break
• Clayton Keller (10-10-20) and Barrett Hayton (6-9-15) have tallied a combined 16-19-35 in March (12 GP), ranking T-3rd and T-16th in the NHL in that span, respectively. Keller is on an 10-game point streak, tied for the longest of his career, while Hayton has rung up a career-high nine-game point streak. A point of any kind tonight for Keller would tie the Coyotes record (since 1997-96) for the longest point streak, held by Shane Doan and Jeremy Roenick
• Keller also enters tonight with 78 points (34-44-78) on the campaign. He looks to become just the second Coyote (since 1996-97) to reach 80+ points in a season. He’s turned in a multi-point performance in four of his last six games overall and has two career multipoint games against the Avalanche (12/27/22 and 3/8/21)
LAST GAME
Oilers 4, Coyotes 3 (OT) – March 22, 2023 – Rogers Place
ARI Goals: Moser (6), Keller (33, 34)
EDM Goals: McDavid (59, 60), Nugent-Hopkins (32, 33)
ARI Goalie: Ingram (O) – 27 svs on 31 shots
EDM Goalie: Skinner (W) – 14 svs on 17 shots
PP: 1-2 PK: 2-4
Notes: ARI fell to EDM 4-3 in overtime but picked up at least a point for the ninth time its last 10 GP…Clayton Keller registered two goals to extend his point streak to a career-high-tying 10 games; Keller also enters tonight on an eight-game road point streak dating back to 2/10…Wednesday marked Keller’s eighth multi-goal game of the campaign and is two pts shy of reaching the 80-point threshold for 2022-23…Keller’s second goal came in the third period, his 15th third-period goal of the season to rank T-7 th in the NHL in that criteria…Barrett Hayton extended his point streak to nine games with an assist and has registered 5-9-14 over that run…Nick Schmaltz chipped in two helpers and reached 200 points (70-130-200) with the Coyotes…Matias Maccelli recorded an assist to become the third NHL rookie to reach 40 pts this season (Beniers, McTavish)…JJ Moser scored his sixth goal of the season and has found the scoresheet in two of his last three games…Jack McBain played in his 82nd career NHL game and has produced 13-9-22 with 61 PIM and 287 hits…Lawson Crouse tallied an assist and is one point from reaching 40 this season as well as 150 for his career…Connor Mackey tied his career-high for shots in a game with 3 (12/16/22)…Brett Ritchie missed the game due to an upper-body injury
MAN GAMES LOST (Name/Roster Status/Injury Type/Games Missed/Last Game Played)
Josh Brown…Day-to-Day…Lower-Body (4 / 3/14)
Zack Kassian…Day-to-Day…Upper-Body (2 / 3/18)
Brett Ritchie…Day-to-Day…Upper-Body (1 / 3/21)
Total man games lost: 135 games
Liam O’Brien – 23 (12/17 – 2/6) – Upper-Body | 2 (2/11 – 2/13) – Upper-Body
Jakob Chychrun – 16 (10/13 – 11/17) – Upper-Body
Matias Maccelli – 16 (12/27 – 1/24) – Lower-Body
Nick Schmaltz – 15 (10/15 – 11/17) – Upper-Body | 1 (12/31) – Upper-Body | 3 (3/12 – 3/16)
Zack Kassian – 9 (11/1 – 11/21) – Lower-Body
Connor Timmins – 9 (10/15 – 11/5) – Upper-Body
Shayne Gostisbehere – 8 (1/26 – 2/18) – Upper-Body
Andrew Ladd – 6 (N/A) – Undisclosed
Josh Brown – 3 (11/23 – 11/27) – Upper-Body | 4 (2/26 – 3/3) – Upper-Body
Ben McCartney – 3 (10/13 – 10/17) – Lower-Body
Juuso Valimaki – 1 (11/23) – Upper-Body
Lawson Crouse – 1 (12/1) – Illness | 4 (1/19 – 1/24) – Upper-Body
Christian Fischer – 1 (3/3) – Illness | 1 (3/12) – Lower-Body
Connor Ingram – 1 (1/8) – Illness
Patrik Nemeth – 1 (3/14) – Lower-Body
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
-3/22 – Recalled F Bokondji Imama and F Milos Kelemen from Tucson (AHL)
-3/21 – Recalled D Michael Kesselring from Tucson (AHL)
-3/19 – Assigned D Michael Kesselring to Tucson (AHL)
-3/18 – Recalled D Michael Kesselring from Tucson (AHL)
-3/17 – Assigned F Bokondji Imama and D Michael Kesselring to Tucson (AHL)
-3/16 – Signed F Josh Doan to a three-year entry-level contract, beginning with the 2023-24 NHL season
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
DATE TIME (AZ) OPPONENT VENUE TV RADIO
Sun, March 26 12pm vs COL Mullett Arena Bally Sports Arizona ESPN 620
Mon, March 27 7pm vs EDM Mullett Arena Bally Sports Arizona Extra ESPN 620
Fri, March 31 7:30pm vs DAL Mullett Arena Bally Sports Arizona Extra 92.3 FM
YOTES & AVS
- Tonight is the third of four ARI-COL contests this season. The Yotes beat the Avs 6-3 on 12/27 at Mullett Arena, but the Avalanche captured the most recent matchup 3-2 in OT on 3/11 in Denver
- The final game of the season series will be Sunday at Mullett Arena
- Arizona enters tonight with a 4-game point streak (3-0-1) against Colorado. That’s the team’s longest such run versus COL since 12/22/18 – 11/2/19 (2-0-2)
- Lawson Crouse has chipped in 4 pts (1-3-4) over the two games against the Avs this season, including an assist in the last head-to-head meeting. He’s found the scoresheet in each of the last three times he’s played at Ball Arena
- Clayton Keller and Jack McBain scored for ARI in the 3/11 matchup. Keller enters tonight with a 4-game point streak against the Avs, collecting 2-3-5 in that span
- The 6 goals in the 12/27 game was the second of four instances Arizona has scored 6 goals this season, the team’s single-game high in 2022-23
- Crouse registered 3 pts (1-2-3) in the 12/27 meeting, while Nick Schmaltz and Keller each chipped in a goal and an assist
- Keller and Crouse have each tallied 6 pts against the Avs in 6 GP since the start of 2021-22
- Excluding the COVID season, the three ARI-COL games in March will represent the first time the Coyotes will play a team three times in a month since March of 2017 when the team played St. Louis 3x
- Coyotes franchise vs Avalanche/Nordiques
• All-Time: 61-60-12-13
• Home: 32-29-7-5
• Road: 29-31-5-8
• L10: 4-4-2
• STRK: OT1
SCORING NOTABLES AGAINST THE AVALANCHE
Nick Schmaltz…5-7-12…25 career GP
Clayton Keller…4-12-16…22 career GP
Lawson Crouse…4-7-11…22 career GP
Brett Ritchie…7-1-8…19 career GP
Juuso Valimaki…0-2-2…4 career GP
Career Leaders
Goals (Ritchie, 7)… Assists (Keller, 12)…Points (Keller, 16)
Career Leaders Among Defensemen
Goals (Moser, 1)… Assists (Valimaki/Nemeth, 2)…Points (Valimaki/Nemeth/Moser, 2)
COLORADO AVALANCHE NOTES:
UPCOMING GAMES
Date Opponent Time (MT) TV Radio
Fri, Mar. 25 ARIZONA 7 p.m. Altitude 92.5 FM
Sun, Mar. 26 at Arizona 1 p.m. Altitude, NHLN 92.5 FM
Mon, Mar. 27 at Anaheim 8 p.m. Altitude 2 950 AM
TONIGHT’S GAME
COLORADO AVALANCHE (41-23-6, 88 PTS) vs. ARIZONA COYOTES (27-33-12, 66 PTS)
7:08 p.m. – Ball Arena, Denver, Colorado
Altitude TV / Altitude Radio (92.5 FM)
The Colorado Avalanche wraps up their three-game homestand tonight against the Arizona Coyotes at Ball Arena … This evening’s contest is the first half of a home-and-home between the Avalanche and Coyotes, who will face off again on Sunday afternoon in Tempe … The Avs are coming off a 5-2 loss to the Penguins on Wednesday, snapping their six-game winning streak… Despite the loss, Colorado is still 13-4-1 in its last 18 contests and 21-6-3 (.750) in its last 30 games … Only Boston (23- 6-1, .783) has a better record since January 14 … The Avs are 10-4-2 in their last 16 home games and 11-2-1 in their last 14 road contests … Colorado is in a busy stretch of 15 contests in 26 days from March 4-29.
ON THE CALL
Altitude: Marc Moser (play-by-play), Mark Rycroft (analyst), Katie Gaus (reporter)
Altitude Radio: Conor McGahey
LAST GAME
March 22 – Pittsburgh 5, Colorado 2 at Ball Arena
The Penguins snapped the Avalanche’s six-game winning streak with a 5-2 victory at Ball Arena … J.T. Compher notched a goal and one helper for the Avs, Devon Toews also scored and Alexandar Georgiev made 41 saves … Jeff Carter scored twice for Pittsburgh, and Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust each had a goal and one assist.
SF: 30 SA: 45 PP: 1-3 PK: 2-4
MacKinnon extended his point streak to 10 games (6g/11a), his longest streak of the season and the longest by an Avalanche player in 2022-23 MacKinnon extended his assist streak to seven contests (10a), the longest by an Avalanche player this season and one shy of his career high set April 5-24, 2021 MacKinnon extended his home point streak to 18 games (14g/15a), the second-longest such streak in franchise history MacKinnon reached the 90-point mark for the fourth time in his career, tying Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic for the most 90-point campaigns in Avalanche history (since the team relocated) Colorado’s power-play unit scored for the ninth consecutive game, their longest streak of the season and tied for the second-longest stretch in Avalanche history (since 1995-96) Georgiev had his five-game winning streak snapped, which tied a season and career high Georgiev’s shutout streak ended at 134:16, the longest by an Avalanche netminder this season and the 10th longest scoreless streak in the NHL in 2022-23
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Mar. 22 – Darren Helm activated from Injured Reserve
Mar. 21 – Jared Bednar signed to three-year contract extension through 2026-27
Mar. 14 – Alex Galchenyk recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
CURRENT INJURIES
Pavel Francouz – lower body (Feb. 14 – present)
Erik Johnson – ankle (Feb. 14 – present)
Gabriel Landeskog – knee (Oct. 12 – present)
Artturi Lehkonen – finger (March 15 – present)
Cale Makar – lower body (March 20 – present)
Josh Manson – lower body (March 4 – present)
Evan Rodrigues – head (March 22 – present)
Total Man-Game Lost: 402
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT – ARIZONA COYOTES
The Avalanche and Coyotes close out the season series with a home-and-home tonight in Denver and Sunday afternoon in Tempe … Tonight is the third of four matchups between Arizona and Colorado in 2022-23 … Arizona won the first meeting 6-3 at Mullett Arena on Dec. 27 and Colorado won the second 3-2 in overtime on March 11 here at Ball Arena
SCHEDULE vs. COYOTES
Dec. 27 @ Arizona (L, 3-6)
Mar. 11 vs. ARIZONA (W, 3-2 OT)
Mar. 24 vs. ARIZONA
Mar. 26 @ Arizona
RECORD vs. COYOTES
THIS SEASON 2021-22 ALL-TIME SINCE 1995-96 PLAYOFFS
Overall: 1-1-0 Overall: 2-1-1 Overall: 73-53-20 Overall: 56-33-12 Series: 2 (2-0)
Home: 1-0-0 Home: 1-0-1 Home: 39-24-10 Home: 29-14-7 W-L Record: 8-2
Road: 0-1-0 Road: 1-1-0 Road: 34-29-10 Road: 27-19-5 Last: 2020 R1 (W, 4-1)
GRAND CENTRAL
Colorado is 14-5-1 against Central Division teams this season, 7-1-1 at home and 7-4-0 on the road … The Avs have won their last five home games versus division opponents.
PICK SIX
The Avalanche have posted three different six-game winning streaks this season, all since the calendar flipped to 2023 … The club had a six-game winning streak in January, another in February and one in March … Only Boston (four) has more 6+ game winning streaks in 2022-23.
THAT’S THE POWER OF LOVE
Colorado’s power-play unit has scored in nine consecutive games, tied for the second-longest streak in Avalanche history (since the franchise relocated to Denver) … The record is 14 straight contests in 1995-96 … Colorado is 11-for-29 (37.9%) during this nine-game stretch … The Avs rank fourth in the league in power-play percentage at 24.9% (55-221).
FIRST AND FOREMOST
The Avalanche have scored the first goal of the game on 44 occasions this year, tied with Carolina for the most of any team … The Avs have lit the lamp first in 44 of their 70 games (63%) … Colorado is 33-7-4 when scoring first, tied for the third-most wins when potting the first goal behind Boston (36) and Carolina (35).
BACK-TO-BACK
The Avalanche just swept a back-to-back in Toronto and Ottawa last week … Colorado has swept five of its last seven sets of back-to-back games … The Avs are 13-5-2 overall in back-to-back contests this season, going 6-3-1 in the first game and 7-2-1 in the second …. The Avalanche had a stretch of three consecutive sets of back-to-back games from Feb. 14-25, with the club earning 11 of a possible 12 points during that span … All three back-to-backs required travel in between (either home/road or road/home) and all three opponents on the second half of the back-to-back were waiting for the Avs, with Colorado sweeping all three games … The Avalanche posted a 15-5-2 (.727) record in back-to-back games last season, the second-best mark behind Minnesota (.732, 19-6-3) … The Avs were 7-3-1 in the first game and 8-2-1 in the second.
