Colorado Continues Trip at Los Angeles on Thursday

The Colorado Avalanche continues its four-game California road trip and looks to earn its third straight win as it visits the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday for the second contest of a two-game set.
The Avs collected its first win on the road with a 3-2 victory on Tuesday night while staving off a late third-period comeback by the Kings. Brandon Saad started the scoring for the club with his first goal in an Avalanche sweater in the first period, followed by back-to-back power-play notches from Devon Toews and Mikko Rantanen in the second frame. Toews' tally marked the first time he has scored a goal in consecutive contests in his career. Nathan MacKinnon also recorded two assists for Colorado.

Los Angeles didn't go down easy as the team stormed back from a 3-0 third-period deficit with markers from Andreas Athanasiou and Adrian Kempe, but it couldn't find the game-tying goal. Anze Kopitar registered two assists, while netminder Calvin Petersen stopped 21-of-24 shots in his first start of the season.
Thursday's contest is the first of a back-to-back set for Colorado, which will play seven such consecutive series this season. The Avs play at the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.

Avalanche at Los Angeles Kings

Staples Center | Los Angeles, Calif.
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COLORADO-LOS ANGELES CONNECTIONS

Avalanche assistant coach Ray Bennett spent seven years as an assistant coach for the Kings (1999-2006) … Kings general manager Rob Blake played parts of five seasons with Colorado, winning a Stanley Cup with the Avs in 2001 … Los Angeles center Trevor Moore played at the University of Denver from 2013-2016.

HISTORY

After Tuesday's victory, the Avs own an all-time 58-65-15 record against the Kings, while holding a 40-43-11 mark since moving to Denver in 1995-96. Gabriel Landeskog leads the current Avalanche roster with 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in 29 career matchups against L.A., which is 10th in franchise history. Nathan MacKinnon's 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in 20 contests and Mikko Rantanen's 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 12 games rank second and third, respectively, on the current squad versus the Kings.
Thursday's matchup is the fourth-straight, regular-season contest at Staples Center between the two clubs. The Avalanche will host Los Angeles for another two-game series (third and fourth meeting of the season) on March 12-14. The teams last played at Denver's Ball Arena on Jan. 19, 2019.

ROSTER REPORT

On Tuesday, the Avs acquired defenseman Greg Pateryn from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for defenseman Ian Cole. Pateryn had recorded two assists in three games with the Wild so far this season while tallying 41 points (four goals, 37 assists) in 270 NHL contests. In 138 games with the Avalanche, Ian Cole recorded 41 points (six goals, 35 assists) and a plus-20 rating. Coach Jared Bednar said the club practiced on Wednesday the same way it finished the previous game, with Valeri Nichushkin on the second line with Nazem Kadri and Brandon Saad. Joonas Donskoi was on the right side of a trio with J.T Compher and Tyson Jost, with Matt Calvert and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare serving as forwards on the fourth combo. Bednar also mentioned that the defensive pairs were mixed up at the session due to the arrival of Greg Pateryn.

INJURY UPDATE

Goaltender Pavel Francouz (lower-body injury) and forward Andre Burakovsky (upper-body injury) both missed Tuesday's game and Wednesday's practice. The two are day-to-day, according to Bednar.

SCOUTING THE KINGS

Through three games, the Kings hold a 0-1-2 record, the first time the organization has gone winless in its first three contests since 2016-17. Los Angeles is one of two NHL teams to not have win this season along with the Chicago Blackhawks and is currently eighth in the West Division with two points.
Andreas Athanasiou scored for the third straight game on Tuesday and leads the squad in goals, while Jeff Carter (one goal, three assists) and Anze Kopitar (four assists) are tied for the most points on the club. Kopitar has averaged over a point per game in 48 contests against the Avalanche (1.02), totaling 17 goals and 32 helpers for 49 points.
Los Angeles' 88.2 penalty-kill percentage ranks 10th in the NHL.

(OPPOSING) PLAYER TO WATCH: JONATHAN QUICK

Goaltender Jonathan Quick is expected to make his third start of the season for the Kings and has a .887 save percentage and 3.73 goals-against average in his first two outings of the campaign. The 2011-12 Conn Smyth Trophy winner as the most valuable player in the playoffs is 19-6-2 against the Avs in his career, including an 11-2-2 record at Staples Center.
Quick is the all-time winningest goalie in Kings history with 325 victories and has played the most games of any Los Angeles netminder, standing in between the pipes for 646 games.

NUMBERS GAME

8

The Avs' eight man-advantage tallies are the most of any team in the league so far this season, as the club has gone 8-for-17 on the year and has scored at least one power-play goal in each of its first three games.

11

Colorado entered the third period of Tuesday's night contest having scored 11 consecutive goals dating back to Friday's game against St. Louis. The only longer streak in franchise history was when the Quebec Nordiques scored 16 consecutive goals from Oct. 19-22, 1983.

500

Nathan MacKinnon recorded the 500th point of his career with two assists on Tuesday night. He is the seventh player in franchise history and fourth in Avalanche history to reach 500 points. MacKinnon is also the first player from the 2013 NHL Draft class to hit the mark and the sixth active player to reach the milestone before age 26, joining Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Steven Stamkos, Evgeni Malkin and Patrick Kane.

NOTEBOOK

The four-game road trip is tied for the longest of the season, with the Avs hitting the road for four straight contests three other times this season… Samuel Girard tallied an assist and has a point in each of Colorado's first three games of the season (four assists), equaling his career best assist/point streak. Girard previously had a three-game assist/point streak on four occasions, the last occurring from Feb. 26-29, 2020… Girard is tied for second among league defensemen in assists… Defender Dennis Gilbert made his Avalanche debut on Tuesday, while Erik Johnson played his first game of the season.