Colorado Avalanche Looking for Repeat Win vs Coyotes

The Colorado Avalanche would like to start their home stand off on the right note with a win against the Arizona Coyotes.

The Colorado Avalanche didn’t have any Christmas cheer for the Arizona Coyotes when the two teams met during the last game before the Christmas break. Colorado is now hosting Arizona in the first game after the break.

It all started with Tyson Barrie getting a fracture in his hand, which was an accident as he blocked Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s shot. It continued with the great bloodbath of the second period, which saw three players get ejected from the game, one go through concussion protocol, and one all but finish the second period in the penalty box.

The Colorado Avalanche ended up winning the game 6-2, all with secondary scoring. The Arizona Coyote’s two goals were both scored by Derek Stepan while short handed.

How to Enjoy the Game

Game time: December 27 , 7:00 pm MT
TV Networks: Altitude 2 TV (Avs feed), FS-A (Coyotes feed)
Radio: Altitude Radio (AM 950)

Home Stand

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The Colorado Avalanche are starting a six-game home stand. They need this home stand to be better than their last one, in mid-December. The Avalanche went 1-4-0 and overall didn’t look good in front of the home crowd.

A lot of their problem has been poor game management. It’s a cliche, but it’s true — the Avs need to play a full 60 minutes. They need to sustain the pressure, and they need to finish strong.

Truthfully, I suspect Colorado will come out flat. It’s going to probably take them at least part of the first period to get in a hockey mindset again. Hopefully, Arizona doesn’t make them pay for that lapse — the Coyotes are a hungry team with a chip on their shoulders, so they are almost certainly planning on coming out strong.

Players to Watch

The Colorado Avalanche are going to be without their best offensive defenseman, Tyson Barrie, for a good while. One player who’s going to be tagged to step up is rookie Samuel Girard. He’s not going to take over all of Barrie’s minutes, who’s second only to Erik Johnson in time on ice per game. However, Girard will be the player to watch to get the puck up the ice and into a scorer’s hands — or even get his first goal as an Avalanche.

For the Arizona Coyotes, Derek Stepan was especially dangerous against the Avalanche last game. However, you never want to take your eyes off of Arizona’s best offensive defenseman, Oliver Ekman-Larsson. He had some really good looks in the previous game, and you can expect him to be working toward finishing those plays tonight.

Next: Soderberg's 2-Goal Game vs Arizona

After this game, the two teams will meet just one more time, again in Colorado on March 10.