Rapid Recap: Avalanche 3, Kings 2

Nathan MacKinnon recorded two assists to reach 500 career points and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 on Tuesday night at Staples Center.
Brandon Saad scored his first goal as a member of the Avs early in the first period, and Devon Toews and Mikko Rantanen each tallied power-play markers in a matter of 1:55 in the second frame to extend the Avalanche's lead.

Matt Calvert, Joonas Donskoi, Samuel Girard and Gabriel Landeskog joined MacKinnon with helpers in the outing. Colorado goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 23 saves.
Andreas Athansiou and Adrian Kempe notched markers in third period for the Kings to tighten the game late.
The teams meet again on Thursday in L.A.
Statistics
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Highlights
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Photo Gallery

THE GOALS

1st Period
3:09 COL (1-0) - Brandon Saad knocked in a loose rebound in the crease from Matt Calvert's shot in the slot for his first goal as a member of the Avalanche.
2nd Period
14:11 COL (2-0) - PPG, Devon Toews took a backhand pass from Samuel Girard and scored with a one-time shot from the high slot.
16:06 COL (3-0) - PPG, Mikko Rantanen scored from the right side after quick passes from Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog.
3rd Period
7:50 LAK (3-1) - Andreas Athanasiou scored on a wrist shot from the right circle that went top left corner.
14:22 LAK (3-2) - PPG, Adrian Kempe tallied after the puck deflected off a skate in front and right to him at the right circle.
Final: Avalanche - 3 | Kings - 2

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 2 for 6
Los Angeles: 1 for 3

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer started his third consecutive game and made 23 saves, including all 17 he faced in the first two periods of play.
Los Angeles: Calvin Peterson stopped 21-of-24 shots in his first contest of the season.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Nathan MacKinnon recorded two assists to bring his career point total to 500, the first player from the 2013 NHL Draft class to reach the mark. He is the seventh player in franchise history and fourth in Avalanche history to reach 500 career points with the team.

NOTEBOOK

Devon Toews scored his second goal of the season and his second in as many games. It is the first time in his NHL career that Toews has scored in back-to-back contests … Samuel Girard extended his point streak to three games (four assists), tying his career long … The Avalanche scored 27 seconds into the second period off a shot from Nathan MacKinnon with Mikko Rantanen crashing the net, but it was waved off due to goaltender interference … It was the first of eight meetings of the season between the Avs and Kings and the first of four at Staples Center … The Avs are now 40-43-11 against the Kings since moving to Colorado in 1995 ... Tuesday marked the team's first road game on the season. Colorado is now 11-2-0 in its last 13 road games dating back to last season.

QUOTABLE

Nazem Kadri on staying busy in the "mini-bubbles" on the road: "I brought a boardgame. I'm a big Monopoly guy, so I'm sure we'll get some of the guys together to play that. It's a bit of a different feel than in other years. Similar to a bubble situation, you got to find ways to keep each other busy, and this is an opportunity to do that."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

First in burgundy and blue

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Fist-bumps with the boys.

ROSTER REPORT

The Avalanche used an 11-forward, seven-defensemen lineup with Andre Burakovsky out with an upper-body injury … Joonas Donskoi took Burakovsky's place on a line with Nazem Kadri and Brandon Saad, while Tyson Jost played on a trio with J.T. Compher and Valeri Nichushkin … Dennis Gilbert made his Avalanche debut after being acquired in the offseason in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks. It was his 23rd career NHL game, all previously with Chicago … Erik Johnson played his first game of the season, doing so as the team's seventh defenseman. Johnson missed all of training camp and the first two games of the regular season due to league protocol after testing positive for COVID-19 … Hunter Miska was the backup goaltender for Colorado in the game … The Avalanche acquired defenseman Greg Pateryn from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Ian Cole in a trade earlier in the day.

INJURY UPDATE

Forward Andre Burakovsky (upper body) and goaltender Pavel Francouz (lower body) both missed their first games of the season. They are each day-to-day with minor injuries.

UP NEXT

The Avalanche concludes its series at the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday at 8 p.m. MT. It will be the first half of a back-to-back set as Colorado begins a two-game set at the Anaheim Ducks the following night.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on the start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
20 Brandon Saad - 91 Nazem Kadri - 72 Joonas Donskoi
17 Tyson Jost - 37 J.T. Compher - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
11 Matt Calvert - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
Defensemen
7 Devon Toews - 8 Cale Makar
27 Ryan Graves - 49 Samuel Girard
9 Dennis Gilbert - 22 Conor Timmins
6 Erik Johnson
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
32 Hunter Miska