The Phoenix Coyotes, with the help of goalie Mike Smith, beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 on Wednesday, making it their third win in a row. Coyotes Taylor Pyatt was able to get the first goal eight minutes into the first period off a pass from Derek Morris. There were not many scoring chances throughout the rest of the period, and the only penalty was called on the Coyotes for delay of game.

The second period began with a couple power-play opportunities for the Avalanche, but Colorado was not able to capitalize on any of their chances. The Coyotes got their second goal of the game off the stick of Radim Vrbata with two minutes left in the period, and Ryan O’Reilly was able to score the first goal for Colorado 20 seconds later.

Lauri Korpikoski scored 24 seconds into the third period, which gave the Coyotes a two goal lead that they held for the rest of the period. The Avalanche pulled their goalie in the final two minutes of the period, but were not able to capitalize with the extra man. Vrbata was able to get around the Avalanche defense and score a second, empty-net goal in the final minutes of the game.

Smith saw made 39 saves throughout the game, allowing his team to stay aggressive and keep attacking throughout each period. Colorado goalie Semyon Varlamov made 24 saves, but was unable to keep every shot out of his net.

”Strong goaltending,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said in a post game interview with Fox Sports. ”We didn’t play as well as we would like, but our goaltender hung in there and battled hard for us and we found enough to win.”

The Phoenix Coyotes (6-3-2) travel back home to face the Nashville Predators on Thursday, while the Colorado Avalanche (7-5-0) head to Texas to face the Dallas Stars on Friday.

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