The Colorado Avalanche made sure there would be no furious comeback from the Arizona Coyotes Saturday night, scoring four goals in the third period on their way to a 6-2 win at Gila River Arena. 

Johan Larsson and Clayton Keller scored for the Coyotes, but Colorado’s speed and skill were too much for them over both Friday’s and Saturday’s games. Arizona finished what is likely their longest homestand of the season with a 3-4-2 record over the nine games. 

The Coyotes got bad news before the game, as points leader Conor Garland was announced as day to day with a lower body injury. So Garland and his seven goals and team-best 12 assists were unavailable, leaving the Coyotes even further challenged against the Avalanche, widely considered a Stanley Cup Finals contender.

“‘Gars is a big part of our team, obviously. I called him and he wanted to play, but it wouldn’t have been right for him to play,” Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet said. “And we need him for the next 20, 30 games, so we’ll figure it out the next couple of days.”

Nathan MacKinnon, Jacob MacDonald, Gabriel Landeskog, Joonas Donskoi, Tyson Jost and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored goals for Colorado. Landeskog, Donskoi, Jost and Bellemare scored in the third period, while Larsson scored in the third for the Coyotes when his shot went off the stick of a Colorado defender and into the net.

Keller got his first goal since Feb. 15 when defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson tried a shot from distance that Keller redirected past Philipp Grubauer for his sixth goal of the season. That tied the game at 1 with 5:47 left in the second period, but the Avalanche retook the lead quickly. 

MacDonald zipped behind the net and his wrapround shot found an opening. Colorado took a 2-1 lead into the third period. 

MacKinnon scored the game’s first goal in the first period on a high wrist shot from the circle left of the net after he powered his way past Hjalmarsson with the puck and into the clear. 

Antti Raanta, in his first start since Feb. 13 and fourth game of the season, faced 40 shots with 35 saves.

‘Off The Post’

This week’s Coyotes Faceoff conversation with longtime former captain and current chief hockey development officer, Shane Doan, and former player/current broadcaster and club ambassador Paul Bissonnette led to further talk about their podcast, “Off The Post with Doaner & Biz.” It’s available on Spotify, iTunes, iHeart and the Coyotes YouTube channel. 

Up Next

The Coyotes get three days in between games. Their next scheduled contest is Wednesday night in Los Angeles against the Kings, against whom the Coyotes are 0-1-1 this season. It’s the first game in the Staples Center this season for Arizona.

Get in touch with Jose Romero at [email protected]. Find him on Twitter at @RomeroJoseM.