The Avalanche haven’t played in front of their home fans in nearly 12 months. On Friday, they played in front of Avs fans, but in Arizona.
Nazem Kadri scored his team-leading third game-winning goal of the season and added two assists to lead Colorado to a 3-2 victory in front of 2,495 fans at Gila River Arena. The fans in attendance, many of which were wearing Avs jerseys, provided the road team with a spark.
“It was certainly nice to see people back in the building,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Even walking to the rink this afternoon and in the hotel lobby, I saw some fans with our jerseys on. It adds another layer of excitement. I’m hoping other rinks are going to follow suit and really looking forward to trying to get some fans back in Ball Arena.”
Avs goalie Hunter Miska started the first of a back-to-back and made 16 saves to earn his first career victory against his former team. Miska, 25, had a shutout bid until the final 1:36 of the game, where the Coyotes scored twice to pull within a goal after trailing 3-0.
“It was a little nerve-racking but I had a really good team playing in front of me,” Miska said. “Good thing we came out with two points there.”
Kadri was a minus-5 in a 6-2 loss to Minnesota on Wednesday, despite scoring one of the Avalanche’s goals. His bounce-back effort against Arizona was his second three-point night this season.
Bednar mixed-and-matched his lineup because of a late scratch to forward Matt Calvert due to an upper-body injury — leaving the Avs with just 11 forwards. As a result, Kadri got to play with different wingers throughout the evening, including top-line wings Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog.
“I talked to him a little bit about some of his decisions and just being more firm with the puck,” Bednar said. “He had a really good spark out of the change in lines and he comes back with a big effort for us. I thought he had a really strong game, a really good 200-foot game.”
Colorado entered the third period up 1-0 before goals from winger Andre Burakovsky and Kadri in a 4:56 span opened up a three-goal lead. Burakovsky, who was acquired in 2019, appeared in his 400th career NHL game.
The Avs outshot Arizona 20-10 after 40 minutes but had just one goal from Rantanen to show for it.
The intense affair included a fight as 19-year-old Avalanche rookie Bowen Byram and Coyotes forward Drake Caggiula dropped the gloves in the third period. The Coyotes forward got the better of the scrap.
But both teams were heated throughout the night. This was highlighted by an encounter between Landeskog and Arizona’s Conor Garland late in the first period. The two were paired up after the whistle and Landeskog wrapped his arms around Garland and slammed him to the ice.
“It looked like a little bit like WWE to me,” said Rantanen, who was nearby when it happened. “It was funny.”
28-year-old defenseman Jacob MacDonald was activated to the main roster from the taxi squad and played on his birthday. MacDonald played on the third pair with Byram, which dropped Conor Timmins from the starting lineup. Colorado also welcomed Brandon Saad back into the lineup. Saad was absent Wednesday to be with his wife who went into labor to welcome their second child into the world.
