Avalanche vs. Coyotes, Game 64: Lines, Notes & How to Watch

Believe it or not, the Colorado Avalanche have really struggled against the Arizona Coyotes. On Saturday, they’ll need figure it out against the road team if they want to salvage their four game homestand.

The Coyotes, who have beaten the Avalanche the last three times the teams have played each other, come to Ball Arena for the second matchup between the teams this season. The Coyotes beat the Avalanche handily in the first game after the Holiday break back in December.

Against the Kings, head coach Jared Bednar had scoring chances pretty much the same, but the Kings were able to get the tough areas on the ice, while the Avalanche weren’t.

“If you’re not engaged enough and competitive enough, then you’re not going to win,” he said at practice Friday.

Don’t look for any changes to the Avalanche lines. At practice on Friday, the even strength setup looked exactly the same as it did Thursday. The powerplay, however, could look a little different.

Evan Rodrigues replaced Artturi Lehkonen on the top powerplay unit at practice, and the setup of entire powerplay looked a little different. We’ll see if that carries over to the game.

Alexandar Georgiev is expected to start in net.

Unlike a lot of bottom-dwelling teams, the Coyotes have been playing teams hard. In their last six games, they’re 3-2-1 and have competed hard against all their opponents. Clayton Keller leads the way for them offensively, with 65 points in 65 games.

Expected Colorado Avalanche Lines

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Valeri Nichushkin

Evan Rodrigues – J.T. Compher – Mikko Rantanen

Andrew Cogliano – Lars Eller – Logan O’Connor

Matt Nieto – Alex Newhook – Denis Malgin

Defense

Devon Toews – Cale Makar

Samuel Girard – Bowen Byram

Jack Johnson – Brad Hunt

Goalies

Alexandar Georgiev

Jonas Johansson

Expected Arizona Coyotes Lines, per DailyFaceoff.com

Clayton Keller – Barrett Hayden – Nick Schmaltz

Matias Maccelli – Jack McBain – Lawson Crouse

Brett Ritchie – Travis Boyd – Christian Fischer

Liam O’Brien – Laurent Dauphin – Zack Kassian

Defense:

Juuso Valimaki – Josh Brown

Patrik Nemeth – J.J. Moser

Connor Mackey – Victor Soderstrom

Goalies:

Connor Ingram

Ivan Prosvetov

Special Teams

Colorado Avalanche Power Play: 23%, 9th in NHL

Colorado Avalanche Penalty Kill: 79.2%, 17th in NHL

Arizona Coyotes Power Play: 19%, 24th in NHL

Arizona Coyotes Penalty Kill: 75.1%, 25th in NHL

How to Watch

TV: ESPN+, Altitude TV

Radio: 92.5 Altitude Sports Radio

Game Time: 4:00 PM MST