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 Phoenix went up 2-0 early, Colorado rallied for the lead with a three-goal flurry late in the first period and the teams traded scores the rest of the way in a wild game that had 18 players earn at least a point.
P.A. Parenteau had a goal and an assist, Stefan Elliott scored his first goal in nearly two years. Patrick Bordeleau and Ryan O'Reilly also scored for the Avalanche.
Antoine Vermette had two goals and Keith Yandle had three assists for the Coyotes, who will head into a fourth straight offseason without an owner.
David Schlemko and Rob Klinkhammer also scored for Phoenix.
This home finale in the desert ended with the same question as the previous three: Will this be the last game for the Coyotes in Arizona?
The franchise has been run by the NHL the past three seasons after the previous owner took the team into bankruptcy in an attempt to move the team to Hamilton, Ontario.
After several starts and stops, the Coyotes appeared to have an owner in place when former San Jose Sharks CEO Greg Jamison reached a preliminary agreement with the NHL.
He couldn't meet a deadline with the City of Glendale on a lease agreement for Jobing.com Arena in January, leaving the team in limbo again.
Several suitors have stepped forward, including a pair that submitted proposals to the NHL, but nothing has been finalized.
Phoenix was eliminated from the playoffs with a 4-0 loss at Detroit on Monday and followed with the kind of performance they could have used the previous couple of weeks, beating playoff-bound San Jose at home on Wednesday.
The Coyotes got their home finale off to a great start, scoring just over 3 minutes in when Schlemko skated in from the blue line and sent a wrister past Jean-Sebastien Giguere.
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Vermette made it 2-0 midway through the period, squeezing a shot between Giguere's legs after a nice drop pass by Yandle.
The Avalanche fought back quickly, scoring three goals in 4 minutes.
Bordeleau got the first by taking a couple of whacks at the puck before sending it past Coyotes goalie Mike Smith. Parenteau tied it on a power play, scoring on a wrister that seemed to catch Smith off-guard, and Elliott put Colorado up on a 4-on-4 a minute later with his first goal since Dec. 29, 2011.
The Coyotes tied it on a power play when Klinkhammer lost the puck, flicked a shot from along the goal line and shrugged after it bounced off Avs defenseman Greg Zanon's leg into the goal.
Colorado answered with a power-play goal with 33 seconds left, going up 4-3 when O'Reilly skated in alone from the left circle and beat Smith with a wrister.
Vermette tied it again on another power-play goal, wheeling around to punch in a rebound after Michael Stone sent a hard shot off Giguere, who was replaced late in the period by Semyon Varlamov after going down on a save.
NOTES: Phoenix LW Paul Bissonnette had an assist on Schlemko's goal, his career-high fifth of the season. ... Giguere played in his 575th game, matching Ken Wregget for 45th place on the NHL's list for goalies. ... Avalanche D Shane O'Brien received 14 minutes in penalties on one play in the third period: 10 on a game misconduct and 2 each on roughing and slashing calls.
[Associated
Press; By JOHN MARSHALL]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
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