Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar had a goal and two assists each, J.T. Compher also had a goal and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Arizona Coyotes 3-1 in Denver on Friday night.
Alexandar Georgiev turned away 17 shots and Valeri Nichushkin had two assists for Colorado. The Avalanche (42-23-6, 90 points) moved within two points of Central Division-leader Dallas with a game in hand on the Stars.
Clayton Keller scored and Karel Vejmelka had 27 saves for Arizona (27-34-12, 66 points).
Colorado got stronger on the back end with the return of defensemen Makar and Erik Johnson. Makar had missed the previous two games with a lower-body injury, and Johnson was out for 19 games with a broken ankle suffered at Florida on Feb. 11.
Makar made an immediate impact on the power play when he fed MacKinnon at 12:52 of the first period. It was MacKinnon's 31st of the season and extended his point streak to 11 games. He has recorded at least one point in 19 straight home games.
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The Coyotes answered late in the first period when Nick Schmaltz chased down the puck along the boards, fed Keller in the slot, and Keller lifted a backhander by Georgiev at 18:57. It was Keller's 35th of the season and ninth in the past eight games. He also extended his point streak to 11 games.
Vejmelka made a sprawling save on a wraparound attempt by Makar late in the second and then had to make two saves on short-handed chances by the Avalanche.
Colorado continued to press and finally got the go-ahead goal in the third period. MacKinnon passed it to Makar at the top of the slot, and the defenseman sent a shot through traffic to make it 2-1 at 6:41. It was his 17th of the season.
The Avalanche added an insurance goal a few minutes later on a power play when Vejmelka made a save on Makar's shot but Compher put in the rebound at 11:17. It was his 16th goal of the season.
--Field Level Media
The Trust Project
