The Avalanche pulled out a much-needed win against the Arizona Coyotes but it did not come easy.
The Avalanche pulled out a much-needed win against the Arizona Coyotes but it did not come easy.
A weight was lifted from the Colorado Avalanche after the 4-3 victory over the Arizona Coyotes. It was the team's first game at Ball Arena in 22 days following the All-Star Break and grueling 12-day road trip. Although it was not a typical game — several penalties and three goal reviews — the Avs fought hard for the two points.
"Big win, we played well ... Georgie (Alexandar Georgiev) did a great job keeping us in that," Ross Colton said after the win. "But yeah, for us it's just a matter of getting two points. I thought we did a ton to win. Obviously we got the result we wanted so let's just not look back, it's nice to be home."
Colorado only collected three points in six games on the road and needed the win over the Yotes in a big way. The team was happy and relieved to be back in Denver, and the energy of home ice helped get the win.
"Anytime we're at home, we feed off the fans and you know, you saw it tonight we kind of came out flying," Colton said. "Then after that obviously, like I said, a lot of penalties a lot of penalty kills and stuff like that. So not a ton of flow. But again, it's nice to be home, get some rest, feed off the fans and hopefully keep continuing."
Several of the Avs' last few games have been catch-up hockey which, as Mikko Rantanen said, meant they were working harder to try and get a win. After a day off then a productive meeting/practice on Saturday, the team was able to regroup and focus on fixing the mistakes it had on the road.
"It's just, we got to kind of put our game on them right away. And I think there were times in the first we did that tonight, I don't think it was the whole first," Cale Makar said. "But like I said, I think we were just able to stick with it. Times, especially when you come home from a long road trip you just got to play simple. I think at times tonight we did that and executed that and just got pucks behind their D."
Makar's defensive partner, Devon Toews who scored a goal in the matchup, said his team still has some things to work on.
“PK (penalty kill), we still need to tweak a couple things. We know that and we’re working through it. Discipline is an issue too that we need to work on especially in these tight games," Toews said. "We’re giving them free looks on 5-on-4, you have to hold them. There’s so many low-danger scoring chances and the guys in this league are so skilled they are going to create chances. The more disciplined we can be, the better we will be at keeping away those high-danger chances.”
As of Monday afternoon, the Avalanche sit three points behind the Dallas Stars in the Central Division's No. 2 spot with 72. They face off against the Vancouver Canucks — who hold the top spot in the Pacific Division and are eight points ahead of the Avs — on Tuesday night.
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