Karel Vejmelka made 42 saves, Nick Schmaltz and Loui Eriksson scored and the Arizona Coyotes beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 on Thursday in Glendale, Ariz.

Devon Toews had a goal, Pavel Francouz stopped 27 shots and Cale Makar added an assist for the 10th straight game for Colorado, who saw their four-game winning streak end. Makar set the Avalanche record for consecutive games with an assist by a defenseman.

The Coyotes, who have alternated losses and wins for the past six games, went ahead early in the third period. Clayton Keller feathered a pass through traffic to Schmaltz as he skated into the Colorado end. Schmaltz went in on Francouz and put a backhander off the goalie's right pad and in at 5:27 for his 12th goal of the season.

Francouz went off for an extra skater with just less than two minutes left, but the Avalanche couldn't get the equalizer.

The final seconds got chippy when the Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon was hit with a high stick by Dysin Mayo and instigated a fight with Mayo. Colorado's Gabriel Landeskog and Arizona's Jakob Chychrun also dropped the gloves with four seconds to go.

The teams combined for 20 shots on goal in the first period but neither could score. Colorado finally got the first goal early in the second period.

The Avalanche won a faceoff in the Arizona end and MacKinnon got the puck to Makar at the point. Makar sent a pass across the zone to Toews, who skated to the top of the left circle and fired a shot past Vejmelka at 5:48.

It was Toews' 11th goal, adding to his career high for a single season.

Colorado was poised to take the lead into the second intermission when the Coyotes struck. Arizona passed the puck around the Avalanche zone, and it went to Antoine Roussel in the left circle. He put a sharp angle snap shot on Francouz, who made a pad save.

The rebound came to Eriksson on the right side of the crease, where he corralled it and then beat Francouz high to the far side at 18:11. It was his second goal of the season.

--Field Level Media