*Photo from Last Word on Sports*
Ever since Nazem Kadri has joined the Colorado Avalanche, he has been a top 6 piece in the Avs emergence as a top flight contender. He did it again on Friday. 3 different Avalanche forwards scored, Kadri netted the game winner, and the Avalanche beat the Arizona Coyotes with a 3-2 win on Friday night.
Mikko Rantanen started the scoring 1:43 into the second period, with a power play goal to make it 1-0 Avs. It remained that way until 6:04 into the 3rd, when Andre Burakovsky lengthened the Avs lead to 2-0. Kadri then made it a 3-0 lead with his 6th goal of the season. Phil Kessel and Drake Caggiula both scored within 43 seconds to make it a 3-2 Avs lead, but they couldn't get another one, giving Colorado the win.
Kadri talked about the win after the game, saying that "Losing back-to-back games is not ideal for this group, so we wanted to come back and bounce back in a positive way. I think for the most part we were in control of that game, and it was nice for 'Misky' to get his first NHL win."
Backup Hunter Miska got the start for the Avalanche, and he excelled, saving 16 shots out of 18 that came his way from the Coyotes, Miska's old team. Miska improved to 1-1-1 this season with his first win, and the Avalanche are sitting at 10-6-1 this season, 4th place in the NHL's West Division.
Miska gave the credit to the defense in front of him, saying that "It gives me confidence, and I knew we were going to have a great game from the start of the game. They were letting me see the shooting lanes and see the puck, and I was making saves and coming out here with the win."
Coyotes backup Adin Hill started the game and took the loss, saving 26 shots out of the 29 that came his way. Hill fell to 1-1-0 this season in limited action, only being with the Coyotes due to Darcy Kumper and Antti Raanta dealing with injuries over the course of this year. The Coyotes sit at 9-8-3 this season, 6th place in the West Division.
Coyotes forward Drake Caggiula said of the loss that "We've been there, and we've done it before, but we can't keep putting ourselves in that kind of hole. It's nice to see us push back and make it a closer game. I really wouldn't consider it a 3-2 game. I think we need to have better starts and play with better energy right from the get-go. We can't wait until we're behind to kind of pick it up. We had that belief that we've done it before, which is good, but like I said, we can't keep putting ourselves in that hole, because not too often do you get to come back from three goals. So, we've just got to find a way to be better right out of the gate, not play from behind, play with the lead."
These two teams play again tonight, with Philipp Grubauer starting for the Avalanche, and Raanta expected to start for the Coyotes, with Kuemper currently on the shelf.
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