Avalanche Continues Road Trip at Los Angeles

The Colorado Avalanche continues its last road trip of the regular season on Monday, taking on the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center. It's the second contest of a back-to-back for the Avs, their last of 11 such sets in 2017-18.
This will be the third and final meeting of the campaign between Colorado and Los Angeles who last squared off just 11 days ago at Pepsi Center. The Avalanche is 0-1-1 against the Kings this season and 14-21-9 all time (since 1995-96) on the road in the series.

Last Time Out

The Avalanche held a 3-1 lead entering the third period but fell 4-3 in overtime to the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday evening at Honda Center. All three Colorado tallies came from rookies, as Tyson Jost scored twice and Alexander Kerfoot recorded the Avs' first goal. Colorado was 1-for-4 on the power play, and Jonathan Bernier made 38 saves.
The Kings last played on Friday night, picking up a point in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks, the first loss in three games for Los Angeles. Drew Doughty scored the lone goal for the Kings, who were outshot 33-29 on the night and 4-2 in the overtime frame. Jonathan Quick finished with 31 saves.

Last Time They Met

Anze Kopitar scored four goals to power the Kings past the Avalanche 7-1 on March 22 at Pepsi Center. Mikko Rantanen got Colorado on the board first in the opening period, but Los Angeles scored three times before the end of the stanza, ultimately scoring seven unanswered tallies to take the win. Colorado was scoreless on three power-play opportunities, while the Kings scored on one of their two chances with the extra man, one of just a league-low nine PP goals the Avs have allowed at home this season.

What to Watch

Big Hits
Nikita Zadorov set a single-game Avalanche record with 15 hits in the last meeting between the Avs and Kings. He had five against the Ducks on Sunday to surpass Cody McLeod's team record (268) set in 2014-15. Zadorov leads the NHL with 269 hits this campaign, making his presence huge against L.A., a club that ranks third in the league with 2,033 hits.
Two Great PKs
Two of the league's top three penalty-kill units meet in Monday's contest. The Avalanche ranks third overall in penalty killing (84.7 percent) while the Kings rank first (85.1 percent).
Back-to-Back
Monday's game will wrap up the 11th and final back-to-back set of the season for the Avalanche. Colorado is 3-7-0 in 2017-18 in the second game of back-to-backs.

Players to Watch

Colorado: Center Tyson Jost
Jost notched the first multi-goal game of his career on Sunday and now has three tallies (three goals) through his last two outings, the third time this season he's registered goals in consecutive contests. He now has 12 goals this season, seven of which have come since Feb. 18.
Los Angeles: Defenseman Drew Doughty
Doughty's goal on Friday was his 10th of the season, the seventh time in 10 NHL seasons that he's reached that threshold. The blueliner has already achieved a career high in assists with 48 in 2017-18, which is second on the team to Anze Kopitar.

The Details

Monday night's game between the Avalanche and Kings begins at 8:30 p.m. MT. The contest can be watched live on Altitude TV, and the radio broadcast is available on Altitude Sports Radio AM950.