Coyotes’ Raanta ambushed by Avalanche
Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet met with the media two hours prior to Friday’s game to deliver news that the organization had been waiting almost three weeks to share — that goaltender Antti Raanta would return to action for Friday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche.
But, as he discussed the advantages of Raanta’s return, Tocchet issued an ominous warning that would ring eerily true in the Coyotes’ lopsided 5-1 loss to the Avalanche.
“‘Raants’ (Raanta) can’t do it alone,” Tocchet said before the game. “We have to play well. We have to play smart hockey. … As much as you want your goaltending (to be set), it’s about the fiveman units.”
The Coyotes have scored just seven goals in their last five games after being held to one goal by Avalanche backup goaltender Phillip Grubauer on Friday. It’s difficult for any goaltender to get a win playing behind an offense like that.
Returning to action after missing eight consecutive games with a lowerbody injury, Raanta was ambushed by the Avalanche and victimized by poor defensive play by his teammates in the first period.
“Right now we can’t chase any game because we’re not really getting any production,” Tocchet said after Friday’s loss. “We’ve got to be very clean on certain things, and obviously there were blatant giveaways.”
Avalanche forward J.T. Compher scored two short-handed goals in the span of 85 seconds and Mikko Rantanen provided the third score after a costly turnover by Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun. The three Avalanche goals were scored in a span of 2:11
The first goal was likely one Raanta (34 saves) would like to have back, but the second and third tallies came on breakaways due to irresponsible play by the Coyotes. Tyson Barrie scored the fourth Avalanche goal on a slick pass by Nathan MacKinnon.
“That’s not the most important thing right now,” Raanta said of how he felt coming back from injury. “It’s about how we play and how I’m playing and it’s pretty awful right now. There’s a lot of things to do right now to regroup again.”
Dylan Strome scored the Coyotes’ lone goal late in a third-period power play on a second effort to beat Grubauer. Gabriel Landeskog made it 5-1 with a power-play goal of his own.
Before Raanta suffered his latest injury, which presumably took place at a team practice on Nov. 4, Raanta had crafted a three-game win streak and pulled his season statistics to a 2.10 goals allowed average and a .929 save percentage.
Backup Darcy Kuemper was forced into an unfamiliar situation, starting more than six consecutive games (he started all eight in Raanta’s absence) for the first time since 2013. Kuemper posted an .898 save percentage as the Coyotes went 2-4-2 over that span.
“We’re excited,” Tocchet said prior to Raanta’s return on Friday. “‘Raants’ (Raanta) has done a nice job for us. His body of work, when he’s been in the lineup, has been at a high level for us. Not to have him for 7-8 games, it was tough but we withstood it a little bit.
“I thought ‘Kuemps’ (Kuemper) did a nice job, but obviously we’re ecstatic that ‘Raants’ is back in.”
The return seemingly couldn’t have come at a better time for the Coyotes, who end their five-game homestand with the two top-scoring teams in the Western Conference.
The Avalanche, who scored five goals in a 5-1 win over the Coyotes on Friday, entered the day pacing the Western Conference with 3.71 goals per game. The next team on that list is the Calgary Flames (3.41), who will travel to Glendale on Sunday.
The Avalanche’s top line of MacKinnon, Rantanen and Landeskog entered play Friday with 88 combined points, making them the top-scoring trio in the NHL having accounted for 67.9 percent of the team’s scoring.
They were back at it again on Friday, as Rantanen found the back of the net for the Avalanche’s third goal of the first period, assisted by Landeskog, who also scored the fifth goal. MacKinnon also picked up the primary assist on Barrie’s goal and Rantanen got the secondary. The trio picked up six points on Friday.
The Flames also boast their fair share of offensive talent with star forwards Johnny Gaudreau (26 points) and Matthew Tkachuk (27 points), meaning Raanta is essentially being thrown into the fire upon his return.