Avs Focused On Habits in Los Angeles

Not satisfied with the details of its game in the past few outings, the Colorado Avalanche focused on its effort and earned a 3-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Friday at Staples Center.
"I thought we played with a real good conscious tonight," said head coach Jared Bednar. "We talked about it pregame, just making sure that our defending and checking habits were going to get better here. We've done a good job at certain points during games, it's been a little bit sporadic from an effort standpoint and just making some reads that haven't been the best here recently. We wanted to make sure we could check the box and say that we outworked them because the last few games I'd say it's been 50-50--we did a nice job on that tonight.
"I thought our competitiveness and our work ethic on our forecheck and getting back above pucks, all those things that we talked about, we did a nice job. We weren't perfect, but it was a real good step in the right direction here with still four games to go. I liked the way we played tonight a lot."

Colorado finished the game with a 37-17 advantage in shots on goal, which included an 18-5 edge in the first period and never allowing L.A. to reach double digits in any stanza. The team's traded goals in the opening frame and went into the first intermission tied at 1-1, but the Avs were pleased with the way they were playing.
"We were more ready to play from the start I think," said Mikko Rantanen. "I think the first period was probably our best. I think second was pretty good too, especially the first 10 minutes, but overall a way better game."

The second period featured solely 5-on-5 play, and the Avalanche finished the stanza with a 13-5 lead in shots and received goals from Tyson Jost and Cale Makar. Makar's marker was the eventual game-winner, his third game-winning tally of the season, tied for first among league D-men.
With the regular season winding down and the playoffs just around the corner, the focus for Colorado is to be playing its best hockey when the postseason puck drops.
"I think just for me going into playoffs here especially, and as D-corps as well, I think tonight we were better on gaps and in our defensive zone, other than a few mishaps," Makar said. "It's just going to be gaining that confidence and more momentum going into playoffs. Especially for me, I just have to kind of get back to that style of game I like to play in the defensive zone that I think has been lacking, just in terms of effort or the compete level lately. I think for me, I want to be on both sides, but I obviously want to minimize the negative aspect of being on the ice for goals against."

With room for improvement still, the Avalanche will have another chance to practice its good habits on Saturday when the club finishes the back-to-back set against the Kings.
The four spots in the playoffs for the West Division have been filled, but the seeding of the top three teams has yet to be determined. Colorado sits in second place and still controls its own destiny, four points behind the leading Vegas Golden Knights with a game in hand and a matchup between the foes on Monday.

NATHAN MacKINNON UPDATE

Nathan MacKinnon missed the contest on Friday with a lower-body injury.
"He is banged up a little bit, so I am not really sure," Bednar said of MacKinnon's status for Saturday's rematch in Los Angeles. "It is nothing serious at this point. He was getting some work done this morning and trying to get ready to play, and he is just hurting a little bit. We decided to not risk making his injury or his issue worse, so we went without him tonight and we will have to make a decision on tomorrow, tomorrow, but we will just see how he is feeling.
"I don't want him playing through things that could possibly get worse at this point because we are getting close to the postseason here. We went without him, and we were able to get the win tonight, and we will address tomorrow, tomorrow."
MacKinnon has 65 points (20 goals, 45 assists) in 47 outings this season, tied for the fourth most in the league.
Tyson Jost moved up to center MacKinnon's spot on a line with Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen. Jost tallied Colorado's second goal of the outing and was a plus-1 with three shot attempts and one blocked shot in 18:12 of ice time.

"I thought he was good tonight, he worked hard," Bednar said of Jost. "A little fancy with the puck in the offensive zone a couple times, I think guys start playing with Mikko and Landy and start trying to change their game, but he skated he made plays. He misses a lane early on one entry and then makes a good decision to put it to the net with Mikko going there and it has eyes and goes in, so I thought he was a real good 200-foot player for us tonight."

30 FOR MIKKO

Mikko Rantanen's power-play marker in the first period was his 30th tally of the year, bringing the Finnish forward to the 30-goal mark for the second time in his career.
It came in his 48th contest of the season, making him only the third Avalanche player to have reached 30 goals in fewer than 50 games. He joins Joe Sakic (44 contests) in 1995-96 and Nathan MacKinnon (49) in 2019-20.

"Happy to be there," Rantanen said of the milestone. "Everybody knows those are not my first things I am thinking when I play hockey, it's the two points for the team. But, obviously I have a big role on the team and an offensive role, so it's nice to get on the board."
Rantanen has 60 points (30 goals, 30 assists) this year and is one goal shy of tying his career best of 31 goals that he set during the 2018-19 campaign.
"I mean he's elite. He is an elite player, and he has had an elite season," Bednar said of the right wing. "This year, he has been healthy the whole time. He has taken on a leadership role, and he is going out every night to be a difference-maker and that's regardless of who he's playing with or who's in the lineup. He wants the puck, and he is confident with it, and he has been doing a lot of real good things for us and he continued again tonight."

MORE POSTGAME NOTES

The Avalanche/Nordiques franchise won its 1,500th regular-season game, bringing the club's overall record to 1500-1327-261-142. The Avs are the 18th NHL franchise to reach 1,500 wins and the first among the 1979 WHA expansion teams.
The contest was the beginning of the ninth of 10 back-to-back sets this season for Colorado. The team is now a combined 13-1-3 in consecutive-night games and 8-1-0 in the first matchup of such sets.
Colorado is 9-0-0 on Fridays in 2020-21.
Cale Makar (one goal, one assist) recorded his 10th multi-point game of the season, equaling the number of multi-point performances he had in his rookie campaign in 2019-20. Makar now has 41 points this year, the first defenseman in franchise history to reach 40-plus points in each of his first two NHL seasons.
Makar's 41 points are tied for eighth among NHL defensemen, and his 1.03 points-per-game average leads all blueliners.
Philipp Grubauer appeared in his 38th game and made his 37th start of the season, both career highs that surpass his previous bests of 37 games (2018-19) and 36 starts (2019-20). Grubauer ranks second in the NHL with 28 wins and sixth in goals-against average (2.03).
Alex Newhook picked up his first career NHL point with an assist on Makar's second-period tally.
Andre Burakovsky finished with two assists to extend his point streak to a season-best four games. He has collected six points (three goals, three assists) in that span.
Jacob MacDonald (one assist) has a point in two straight games since returning from injury, the third time this season he has tallied a point in consecutive contests.