Grubauer Records Shutout in 50th Win with Avs

Goaltender Philipp Grubauer hasn't faced a lot of rubber in the Colorado Avalanche's three games this week, but that doesn't mean he hasn't had to be on top of his game.
"You always have to be alert," Grubauer said. "Just because I don't get a shot for five or six minutes, doesn't mean I can put my umbrella up there and hang back in the crease and enjoy the view. That's not the case. So when they come towards us, you got to be focused and you got to read the situation and be ahead of the play and that's what I'm trying to do."

Grubauer faced less that 20 shots for the third consecutive game on Friday night, but he stopped all of them for his fourth shutout of the season as the Avalanche defeated the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 at Ball Arena. He made 18 saves versus L.A. after seeing only 14 shots in both Monday's and Wednesday's contests against the Arizona Coyotes.
"When we need a save, we're getting it from Grubi," said head coach Jared Bednar. "Like tonight, he came up big. The last game we were playing, we didn't give up a lot of chances and then we gave up two breakaways at the end of the game, and Grubi comes up with two big saves and we're able to win the game in overtime."
The Colorado keeper did have a good view of his team creating 46 shots on the opponent's net for the second-straight game, but he was also in the zone when the Kings came rushing back to the Avs' end.
That was especially the case late in the third period when L.A. went on its third power play of the night and the Avs were holding onto a 1-0 lead. Grubauer, along with the team's defense, was up to the task and denied all three shots allowed on the man advantage, leading to Nathan MacKinnon's empty-net goal minutes later.
"That was a big key to the game. They got a couple good looks," Bednar of the Kings' late power-play opportunity. "They broke us down on the one and got a couple good looks, but Grubi made some big saves."
The shutout was Grubauer's 15th of his career and the fourth of the season, which ties him with the Vegas Golden Knights' Marc-Andre Fleury for the most in the league. The Rosenheim, Germany, native's four shutouts are now the most in a single season in his NHL career, as he posted three clean slates in a campaign three times previously (2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19).
It was also his 14th victory in 2020-21, putting him in sole possession of second place in the NHL behind only the Tampa Bay Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy (16).
Grubauer has a 5-2-0 record in his last seven contests, playing in one-goal games in each of the last four.
"We put pucks towards the net and tried to defend. I think you only win if you defend the right way," Grubauer said. "I think we've been doing a great job lately and we got to stick with it. I think our division is really tight so every point matters. We don't need to win every game 6-1 or 6-0, so good job by everybody."
In his third season in Colorado, Grubauer also continues to climb in the franchise record book.
His shutout on Friday was his ninth with the Avalanche, moving him into a tie with Peter Budaj for the fourth most in franchise history. The victory was also his 50th in burgundy and blue, one behind Craig Anderson for ninth place in franchise history and fifth in the Avs annals.

WINNING THE SHOT GAME

The Avs tied their season high with 46 shots on goal, one game after setting the new high mark in the campaign on Wednesday against the Coyotes. The Avalanche is the first team to outshoot its opponents by 60 shots in a two-game span since the Boston Bruins in March 1991.
Defensively, Colorado allowed less than 30 shots for the 15th straight outing, now a franchise record for the longest such stretch in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history. The previous mark of 14 consecutive contests was set from Feb. 21 to March 22, 2001 during the club's Stanley Cup-winning campaign.
"For the most part coming into the year, our goal was to be a little bit more committed defensively and win games 1-0 and 2-0 and 2-1," said defenseman Ryan Graves. "A lot of it comes from Grubi, but we're just trying to commit to that and get comfortable playing like that."
Colorado outshot the Kings by a 17-7 margin in the first period, tied for the squad's second-most shots in first 20 minutes of play this season (Feb. 20 vs. Vegas at NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe). The Avs had a season-high 18 shots in the first period on Wednesday versus Arizona.
The Avalanche has outshot its opponents 127-46 over the past three games.

NEW GAME TIME

The NHL announced earlier on Friday that Sunday's game between the Avs and Kings at Ball Arena will now begin at 3:30 p.m. MDT. The contest was originally scheduled for 5 p.m.
It will be the last of a two-game set between the teams in Denver and the fourth of eight in the season series.
The outing will be televised nationally in the United States on NBCSN.

MORE POST GAME NOTES

Colorado has played five games of a franchise-record, nine-game homestand and is now 3-1-1 on the homestay. Friday's contest was also the team's annual Hockey Fights Cancer game, and the Avs are now 9-3-1 in the annual contest at Ball Arena.
The Avs have scored the first goal of the game 17 times this season and own a 13-3-1 record when lighting the lamp first. The Avalanche is 11-0-0 when leading after two periods.
Colorado matched its season high with 46 shots on goal, the first time this season the club has recorded more than 40 shots in consecutive outings. It is also the first time in franchise history that Colorado/Quebec has had 46 or more shots in back-to-back games.
Mikko Rantanen scored his 13th goal of the season and his third game-winner. He finished with two points (goal and assist) and has collected nine points (five goals, four assists) in his last six games.