It was a full team effort in Colorado's dominating 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
It was a full team effort in Colorado's dominating 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
The Avalanche entered the All-Star Break 11-3-0 in their last 14 games with the 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings and sit atop the Central Division with 67 points.
Logan O'Connor scored two goals in the first period to give the Avalanche the lead, which they kept throughout the game.
"I think you know as a line we're just having a lot of fun out there and playing predictable to each other, using our strengths to our advantage," O'Connor said. "The second goal, it's all the work by Woody (Miles Wood) and Rosco (Ross Colton) getting on the forecheck and Woody finding me there. Maybe I put it in there but the work happened a lot further ahead in the play."
Nathan MacKinnon scored the third goal in the first period, which extended his home scoring streak to 25 and tied him with Bobby Orr (1974-75) for the second-longest season-opening home point streak in NHL history.
Kevin Fiala netted the lone goal for the Kings on the power play at 6:20 in the second period after Kurtis MacDermid was assessed a two-minute minor for interference. Josh Manson scored off a pass from Andrew Cogliano to give the Avs a three-goal lead in the middle frame.
Adrian Kempe got called for tripping Cale Makar which put the Avalanche on the power play just 30 seconds into the third period. Seconds into the penalty, Makar shot the puck down the lane, which hit Drew Doughty's wrist and ended up in the back of the net. MacKinnon and Colton were awarded assists on the goal.
MacKinnon's two-point night put him in the league lead for points with 84, surpassing Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov. The two have been see-sawing back and forth for the top spot.
Alexandar Georgiev made 26 saves and a few significant ones after the Avalanche gave up some breakaways. Head coach Jared Bednar said it was a testament to his goaltender's confidence to have another solid game.
"That's two really good games in a row. We didn't give up a lot tonight but we give up three breakaways ...," Bednar said. "We had the turnover late in the first — makes a big save. We have the turnover by Bo (Bowen Byram) that goes for breakaway and then they get the perfect timing on we had the power-play attack to the net and he comes out of the box. And he made some big saves. And that's what I want to see out of our guy — just make the saves you're supposed to make, mix in a few really tough ones. And give us a really good chance to win, and it started with him tonight and same thing the other night. And our team was energized, it was playing well."
The win was special for the Avs heading into the All-Star Break to keep the energy positive while it gets some time off — minus MacKinnon, Makar and Georgiev who are participating in All-Star Weekend.
"It's been good lately ... I think it was good to get these two home wins, it was big," Mikko Rantanen said. "Now we can rest for a week or so and go back at it on the long road trip. But it's good — feels better to go on the break when you're playing well."
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