Avs Face Kings In Battle For Playoff Positioning

The Colorado Avalanche (40-25-8) continues its fight for a postseason spot as the team returns home for two games, starting with a Thursday night matchup against the Los Angeles Kings (40-27-7). The Avs enter Thursday's contest one point ahead and has a game in hand on the Kings for the Western Conference's first wild-card spot.
This is the second of three meetings between the two clubs this campaign, and the only one in the Mile High City. The two teams will square off one more time at Staples Center in L.A. on April 2.
The Avalanche is 36-39-10 against L.A. since the 1995-96 season but owns a more favorable record on home ice, going 22-18-1.

Last Time Out

Colorado continued its dominate play as of late, improving to 8-1-3 in its last 12 games with a 5-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night. Semyon Varlamov, appearing in his 18th consecutive game, made 44 saves in the win. Down 1-0 in the second frame, Alexander Kerfoot knotted the game for the Avalanche to end his 14-game goalless drought and notched another tally in the final minute of the contest. Mikko Rantanen, Tyson Barrie and Erik Johnson also scored for the Avs to help the team record its 40th win of the season. Nathan MacKinnon (two assists) extended his points streak to 13 games, tying a career high, and Barrie extended his own career-long personal scoring streak to 11 games.
Los Angeles took the Winnipeg Jets to overtime on Tuesday but only skated out with one point, dropping a 2-1 contest in the extra frame. Dustin Brown tallied his 23rd goal of the year to open the scoring for the Kings. Kyle Connor scored both goals for the Jets, first tying the game late in the second period and then netting the game-winner 90 seconds into overtime. Kings goaltender Jack Campbell made 36 saves in the effort.

Last Time They Met

The Avalanche skated out of Los Angeles with one point after falling to the Kings in overtime on Dec. 21 in a 2-1 contest. Gabriel Landeskog tallied midway through the second period, and Colorado held onto a 1-0 lead until Alec Martinez netted the tying marker for Los Angeles in the final frame. Dustin Brown tallied the game-winning goal in overtime in his 1,000th career game to secure the win for Los Angeles. Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves in the extended game for the Avs, while Kings netminder Jonathan Quick stopped 31 shots.

What To Watch

Lighting The Lamp
Thursday night's contest features an Avalanche team that is top 10 in goal per game pitted against a Kings squad that allows the second-fewest tallies in the league (2.5). The Avs currently rank seventh in the NHL with an average of 3.22 goals per game and have scored four or more in seven of the team's last 10 contests. Despite being one of the best defensive clubs in the league, Los Angeles hasn't been as strong recently, allowing three or more tallies in five of its last 10 contests.
Shutdown PK Units
Colorado enters Thursday's contest with the No. 3-ranked penalty-killing unit in the NHL. With 84.1-percent success rate, the Avs have been stellar in that department for much of the season but have been particularly impressive recently. The Avalanche has killed off 16-of-17 attempts in its last five contests and has gone 30-for-33 (90.9 percent) in the month of March. Los Angeles owns the NHL's No. 1 penalty kill at 84.4 percent and has killed off 26-of-29 (89.7 percent) this month.

Players To Watch

Colorado: Right Wing Mikko Rantanen
During Colorado's recent stretch of success in going 8-1-3 in its last 12 contests, Mikko Rantanen has recorded 23 points (seven goals, 16 assists). In that span since Feb. 26, he is second in league scoring behind only linemate Nathan MacKinnon (25 points). Rantanen has points in 11 of the last 12 contests and is currently on a seven-game points streak, picking up an assist in each one to set a new career long. His career-long point streak is eight games, which he set earlier this year.
Los Angeles: Defenseman Drew Doughty
The 2016 Norris Trophy winner has recorded eight assists in his last five games with the Kings, helping his club to a 2-1-2 record over that span. Doughty has 54 points (nine goals, 45 assists) in 74 games this season, including an assist on the overtime-winning goal in the first meeting of the season against the Avalanche. The D-man also ranks second in the NHL in average time on ice at 26:47.

Lineup Notes

Avs goaltender Semyon Varlamov is expected to get the starting nod in between the pipes, which would mark the 19th consecutive contest that he's played in.

The Details

Puck drop for Tuesday's contest is set for 7 p.m. MT. The game can be watched live locally on Altitude TV and can be heard on Altitude Sports Radio AM 950 AM or at ColoradoAvalanche.com.