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Tellqvist, Coyotes hold off Avalanche

Nov 29, 2008 - 12:38 AM GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- On the heels of a six-game winless streak, the Phoenix Coyotes have now won two in a row.

Derek Morris and Kevin Porter scored and Mikael Tellqvist made 37 saves to hold off a third-period surge as the Coyotes escaped with a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday.

After halving the deficit on Ryan Smyth's third-period goal, the Avalanche unleashed a flurry of shots over the last three minutes - which included two brief periods with a man-advantage. But they couldn't get anything past Tellqvist, who won his second straight start and has made 75 total saves in that span.

"They are a good team and they drove to the net and got a lot of pucks at the net," Tellqvist said. "We battle hard in front and got the two points. Obviously I feel confident right now, no question. But it is easy when guys play like that in front."

Morris - who had missed the last three games with an upper-body injury - opened the scoring at the 3:33 mark of the first period, drilling a wrist shot from the left circle through traffic and over the right shoulder of goaltender Peter Budaj.

"We need him healthy he is key to our team - a big horse out there," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. "He got that big goal and did a great job killing penalties."

Just over one period later, Porter gave the Coyotes a two-goal cushion after tapping in a rebound with a backhand just in front of the net.

"The rebound was just laying there and I started whacking at it," Porter said. "It think it hit off their guy's skate, so I was at the right place at right time."

Colorado finally got in the board at 4:07 of the third, as Smyth redirected Ian Laperriere's wrister to beat Tellqvist for the only time all afternoon.

From then on, the game's momentum seemed to rest with the Avalanche. They limited the Coyotes to just three shots on goal in the final period and had more than enough opportunities of their own. However, Colorado went 0-for-4 on the power play - and missed out on a prime chance to pull even with less than three minutes to play.

"We worked extremely hard to create our chances and if you play that way, the majority of the time you come out winners," Colorado coach Tony Granato said. "Tonight we weren't able to. We didn't get any bounce around the net and their goalie played extremely well."

At 2:31 of the third, Phoenix's Peter Mueller was sent to the box on a delay of game penalty for shooting the puck over the glass. After having two shots blocked on the ensuing power play, the Avalanche lost the man advantage, as right wing Marek Svatos was sent to the penalty box with a double-minor for high sticking.

The Coyotes nearly scored on an empty net in the game's waning seconds, but back-to-back shot attempts were blocked by defenseman Brett Clark. Milan Hejduk snagged the loose puck after the second block and raced up the ice for a desperation shot with two seconds left, but the shot deflected off Tellqvist's right pad as the Avalanche lost for the fourth time in six games.

"I think we played a very solid game from the beginning to the end," Budaj said. "Not to take away anything from Phoenix, but I think we outplayed them in every way. We had more shots, more chances, we had the puck more on our sticks, but we battled."

Enver Lisin recorded two assists and Daniel Carcillo and defenseman Keith Yandle added one apiece for Phoenix. Meanwhile, Tellqvist has started three of the last four contests, going 2-0-1.

"When we did break down Tellqvist made some key saves," Gretzky said. "He has two outstanding games for him and is the difference in both wins. He has been exceptional in two straight games."

Starting goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov had a hot streak earlier this month, winning three straight starts and surrendering a total of five goals in the process. But the 28-year-old Russian has stumbled since then, going 0-4-1 over his last five appearances.