Arizona Coyotes continue win streak over Stanley Cup teams with OT win vs. Avalanche

When the Arizona Coyotes hit a roadblock early into the season with three consecutive losses, it didn't look promising that the Coyotes would fare well in three consecutive games against the last three Stanley Cup champions.

But this Coyotes team (11-9-2) has proved that it's full of surprises and instead churned out three convincing wins, the first two coming against the Vegas Golden Knights and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Thursday's 4-3 overtime win against the Colorado Avalanche (15-6-1) at Mullett Arena was another impressive showing with the offense keeping up with the Avalanche's punches. Nick Bjugstad eventually sealed the game with his shot finding its way through traffic with 21 seconds left in overtime.

"We had a good meeting a week ago before those three games and wanted to tighten things up defensively," center Alex Kerfoot said. "A lot of our goals in the weeks prior had been off of our stick and unforced errors. We've been doing a better job of cleaning that up. If you don't give teams free chances, it doesn't matter who you're playing, it's hard for them to score and produce and we're doing a much better job of that."

The Coyotes will continue the homestand with the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, along with the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers on Monday and Thursday.

Protecting the net

Much of the recent success comes down to the outstanding play of goaltender Connor Ingram. Ingram came up big for the Coyotes in the first period as the Avalanche gave him little time to recollect himself from the plethora of shooters.

As in previous games, Ingram did well under immense pressure and only allowed goals from sharp angles, including snipes from Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon. One of the Avalanche's goals came on a defensive mistake as the Coyotes had just four players on the ice, allowing an easy path for Miles Wood to tuck his shot behind Ingram at 4:44 in the second.

Clawing back

The Coyotes top defensive pairing of Sean Durzi and J.J. Moser once again displayed great puck movement as both have a combined 23 points this season. Durzi and Moser were the driving force behind the Coyotes’ first goal in the second as Durzi’s pass to Moser along the blue line was taken by Liam O’Brien and redirected at the net by Travis Boyd at 3:03.

Unlike in the first period where the Coyotes were forcing plays with the puck, Nick Schmaltz went without any hesitation and fired his shot up the slot on the power play to tie the game 2-2 at 16:22 in the second.

"I think in the first period today, we tried too hard to make plays and it was not the pace we wanted defensively," head coach André Tourigny said. "I think the guys made the right adjustments and it was unbelievable. Great second period and great third period. I loved the way we played."

Finding his way

Kerfoot admits that he struggled in the first few games since signing with the Coyotes over the offseason. The center struggled to record a point in the first seven games, but has quietly taken over a prominent role on the penalty kill and has filled the void left by injured centers Barrett Hayton and Jack McBain.

Kerfoot helped set up Schmaltz's power play goal in the second and won 54.5% of his draws, the most on the team.

"He's a huge leader, especially on our PK. Since Hayton and Bainer went down, he made the jump as a center and played against the top six every night," Tourigny said. "He's the first guy off the board when we kill penalties and he's huge for us. I think he's understanding the game and what makes a team successful. He's unbelievable and he was a huge addition for us."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Coyotes continue win streak with OT win vs. red-hot Avalanche