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He stopped 37 shots in his second consecutive start and the Phoenix Coyotes beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 Friday afternoon.

"This is two outstanding games in a row for him," Gretzky said. "He's definitely been the difference the last two games."

Derek Morris and Kevin Porter each scored goals and Enver Lisin added a pair of assists for Phoenix, which won its second straight after a six-game winless streak.

"It's just for me to come in and stop the puck," said Tellqvist, who has made 75 saves the past two games. "But the defense also is doing one heck of a job, too."

The Coyotes were without center Olli Jokinen, who strained his shoulder Wednesday in Columbus and will miss two to four weeks.

"He's one of our top offensive guys and we need other guys to fill the scoring void, me being one of them," Porter said.

Ryan Smyth scored for the Avalanche, which lost for the fourth time in six games.

Colorado earned a power play when Peter Mueller was whistled for delay of game with 2:30 to go, but Marek Svatos caught Martin Hanzal with a high stick with 1:05 remaining to negate the advantage.

"If we continue to play with that effort and that intensity, the majority of the time we're going to come away with a win," said Avalanche head coach Tony Granato.

Colorado center Joe Sakic, who has played in just two of Colorado's last nine games because of back trouble and an infected tooth, dressed but lasted only one shift before retiring to the trainer's room.

"We thought we were going to have him in there," Granato said. "To have him just a shift changes your whole dynamic of what you're going to do."

Morris, back in the lineup after missing three games with an upper-body injury, gave the Coyotes a 1-0 lead at 3:33 of the first. Morris gained control at the outside of the right faceoff circle and took advantage of a screen by Daniel Carcillo to beat Peter Budaj on a wrist shot into the upper left corner.

Porter made it 2-0 at 4:49 of the second on a rebound from the left side of the crease. Keith Yandle had taken the original shot from the left faceoff circle and Lisin's attempted rebound shot was blocked in front of the crease by Colorado defenseman Scott Hannan.

Smyth cut the lead to 2-1 with 15:53 remaining when he redirected Ian Laperriere's bouncing shot from the right boards under Tellqvist.