Coyotes Game 26 Recap: Coyotes get completely outplayed, steal a point

Thanks to Antti Raanta, the Coyotes walk away with an unearned point as they fall 2-1 to the Avalanche in overtime.

Game Recap

The Arizona Coyotes didn’t deserve the point they won tonight. The Avalanche outplayed them every second of the game, and if not for the play of Antti Raanta, it would have been an absolute blowout.

Colorado came out like they were actually ready to play and applied a lot of pressure early on. They had three shots on goal in the opening minute and converted a minute a half in when Brandon Saad was allowed to skate in all alone in front of the net. It was not going to be the Coyotes’ night.

Fortunately for the Coyotes, Raanta is an outstanding goaltender. Colorado kept pushing, but the Finnish netminder was standing on his head all night.

The first period ended with the Avalanche with a 1-0 lead and outshooting the Desert Dogs 18-3.

Arizona was better in the second period in the way that a D+ is better than an F. They had twice as many shots on goal (6) and scored their lone goal of the game.

Tyler Pitlick had done some great work to keep the zone in one of the few moments of sustained pressure. He fired the puck on net, and at first, it looked like Nick Schmaltz had redirected the shot past Philipp Grubauer. Pitlick would eventually get credit for the goal, and it was a tie game.

The third period was more of the same. Colorado completely outworked the Coyotes and was the much better team by miles. It didn’t help that the Coyotes took three penalties, further cutting off their ability to generate any kind of offense.

But thanks to Raanta, the Coyotes stole a point and forced the game into overtime.

Keeping with tradition, the Coyotes failed to register a single shot on goal in overtime. You can say they did a decent job at keeping the Avalanche from scoring, but that was about it.

But in the final minute of overtime, the Avalanche found a way to beat Raanta, and Gabriel Landeskog scored his seventh of the season.

The Coyotes absolutely did not deserve the point they walked away with. Antti Raanta deserved a win after his performance, but the team in front of him let him down.

Lines

Stray Thoughts

• Nathan MacKinnon was back in after missing Monday’s game. He had 10 shots on goal.
• Clayton Keller had a few decent looks but more often than not he failed to hit the net.
• Arizona killed all five Avalanche power play opportunities. The PK and goaltending were the only positives.

Three Stars

1. Antti Raanta
2. Antti Raanta
3. Antti Raanta

Next Game

The Coyotes are back in action this Friday as they continue their road trip and face off against the Minnesota Wild .