Coyotes caught in Avalanche as win streak gets halted

The Arizona Coyotes fell 4-1 on the road to a Colorado Avalanche team that’s won five straight on its home ice in Denver.

After a five-game winning streak and a four-game losing streak, the Coyotes (17-14-2) found themselves on another four-game winning streak coming into this matchup with the Avalanche (21-11-2), who came in with a 42 points-to-36 lead in the standings.

Despite outshooting the Avalanche 12 to nine in the first period including two shots in the final minute, Arizona came up empty in the opening frame, facing a 1-0 deficit.

Michael Carcone and Jack McBain led Arizona in shot attempts with two each in the three minutes they each spent on the ice. Connor Ingram allowed a goal to Colorado defenseman Bowen Byram, who scored shortly after the halfway point of the period.

Less than 90 seconds into the second, Colorado added onto their lead with a goal from Valeri Nichushkin, assisted by Nathan MacKinnon who leads the Avalanche in points.

Colorado added a third goal later in the second, scored this time by Josh Manson. Then it started to feel more like an avalanche — pun intended — when Colorado went up 4-0 in the waning seconds of the middle period off the back of Fredrik Olofsson.

Each of Manson and Olofsson’s goals were just their third on the season but Arizona stared down a 4-0 deficit entering the final 20 minutes nonetheless.

Coyotes finally got on the board just seconds into a power play late in the third to make it 4-1. Alex Kerfoot was the one knocking it in, assisted by Carcone.

Arizona had a couple more shots at the net in the final minutes, but it was too little too late. The Coyotes’ win streak stopped at four as they inch closer to the halfway mark of the 2023-24 season.