Colorado Avalanche vs Arizona Coyotes Match Player Stats On Dec 22, 2018

Brad Richardson scored two third-period goals, including the game-winner with 3:39 remaining, as the Arizona Coyotes snapped a three-game losing streak with a 6-4 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night in Glendale, Ariz.

Richard Panik and Derek Stepan each had a goal and an assist and Conor Garland and Christian Fischer also scored for Arizona. Adin Hill finished with 24 saves.

Alexander Kerfoot scored two goals, and Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon also scored for Colorado, which rallied from a 4-1 third period deficit to tie it. J.T. Compher and Matt Nieto each finished with two assists.

Philipp Grubauer, making his second start in less than 24 hours after taking the loss in a 2-1 setback to the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night in Denver when expected starter Semyon Varlamov was scratched with an illness, had 12 saves but was pulled midway through the second period after surrendering four goals.

Pavel Francouz, making his NHL debut, finished up and stopped 21 of 22 shots.

The Coyotes, who had scored a total of two goals in their three previous games, took a 4-1 lead with three goals in an 8:33 span, starting with Stepan's eighth goal of the season. He pounced on a loose puck in the slot and fired a shot past Grubauer's blocker side with 4.8 seconds to go in the opening period.

Fischer made it 3-1 at the 2:30 mark of the second period with his eighth goal of the season, backhanding a rebound of a Nick Schmaltz shot into the open right side of the net.

Garland followed six minutes later with a wrist shot from the slot inside the right post for his first NHL career goal and sending Grubauer to the bench.

But Colorado rallied to tie it with three goals in 7 1/2 minutes in the middle of the third period.

Landeskog started the comeback with his 24th goal on a power play. Then Kerfoot backhanded in a shot in front of the net for his second goal of the game, and MacKinnon tied it with a wrist shot from the slot into the top right corner of the net for his 22nd goal of the season.

Richardson then put the Coyotes back in front with 3:39 remaining when he fired a shot from the blue line through traffic that beat Francouz on his stick side. The Avalanche pulled Francouz with 2:23 to go, and Richardson sealed the win with an empty-netter with 11.7 seconds left.

--Field Level Media