Arizona Coyotes (33-29-8, fifth in the Pacific Division during the regular season) vs. Colorado Avalanche (42-20-8, second in the Central Division during the regular season)
Edmonton, Alberta; Wednesday, 5:30 p.m. EDT
WESTERN CONFERENCE FIRST ROUND: Colorado and Arizona begin series
BOTTOM LINE: The Colorado Avalanche face the Arizona Coyotes to start the Western Conference first round. The teams meet Wednesday for the third time this season. Colorado and Arizona tied the regular season series 1-1.
The Avalanche are 21-14-4 in conference matchups. Colorado is fifth in the NHL shooting 10.5% and averaging 3.4 goals on 32.2 shots per game.
The Coyotes are 18-16-6 in conference matchups. Arizona serves 6.5 penalty minutes per game, the fewest in the Western Conference. Michael Chaput leads the team averaging 1.0.
TOP PERFORMERS: Nathan MacKinnon leads the Avalanche with 58 assists and has 93 points this season. Vladislav Namestnikov has five goals and one assist over the last 10 games for Colorado.
Nick Schmaltz leads the Coyotes with 34 total assists and has 45 points. Clayton Keller has six goals and five assists over the last 10 games for Arizona.
DURING THE PLAYOFFS: Avalanche: Averaging 3.0 goals, 5.7 assists, 3.7 penalties and 7.3 penalty minutes while giving up 1.7 goals per game with a .941 save percentage.
Coyotes: Averaging 3.5 goals, 5.0 assists, 4.2 penalties and 9.0 penalty minutes while giving up 2.8 goals per game with a .933 save percentage.
INJURIES: Avalanche: None listed.
Coyotes: Antti Raanta: day to day (undisclsoed), Nick Schmaltz: day to day (neck).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The Associated Press
