AVALANCHE LOSE TO COYOTES, Kuemper makes 49 saves

EDMONTON, ALBERTA – AUGUST 15: Darcy Kuemper #35 of the Arizona Coyotes makes the third period save on Gabriel Landeskog #92 of the Colorado Avalanche in Game Three of the Western Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Place on August 15, 2020 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)

by: Colleen Flynn

Posted: Aug 15, 2020 / 06:04 PM MDT

Updated: Aug 15, 2020 / 06:04 PM MDT

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EDMONTON, Alberta (KDVR) — The Colorado Avalanche fell to the Arizona Coyotes 4 -2 in Game 3 of the first-round of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Saturday.

Coyotes netminder Darcy Kuemper stopped 49 shots in a tight game between the teams. The Avs outshot the Coyotes 51-23 but could not put more than two past Kuemper.

Coyotes Derek Stepan scored the lone goal of the first period after the Avs turned the puck over in their own zone and he one-timed it past Avs goalie Pavel Francouz who didn’t have his stick.

Andre Burakovsky put the Avs on the board in the second period. With less than a minute left in the second, former Avs forward Brad Richardson took the lead back for the Coyotes.

The third period was scoreless until the last two minutes when Coyotes center Taylor Hall got the puck past the Avs and shot it into an empty net. Mikko Rantanen brought the Avs back into the game after shooting the puck towards the net and it pinged off a couple players to get past Kuemper.

Even with the last minute effort, the Coyotes solidified the win with another empty-netter in the last five seconds of the game.

Saturday’s game was the second of a back-to-back with barely a 24-hour turnaround. The teams met on Friday at noon and earned a win in regulation. Game 4 is on Monday at 3:30 p.m. MDT.