Colorado Takes Care of Business with Southern California Sweep

LOS ANGELES--The Colorado Avalanche took care of business in Southern California.
Facing two teams outside of the playoff picture on consecutive nights, the Avs left the Pacific coast with the four maximum points following their 2-1 shootout victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night at Staples Center. Colorado opened its quick two-game trip on Friday with a 1-0 win at the Anaheim Ducks.
"It's huge, especially this time of year, getting close to the playoffs. Every point is huge," said Joonas Donskoi, who scored the game-deciding goal in the shootout versus the Kings. "We need all of them, we want to fight for the first spot. It was huge for points."

The two wins helped move the Avalanche into second place in the Western Conference and one point behind the leading St. Louis Blues. Colorado has one game in hand on the Blues, but it is also trying to gain some separation from another division foe in the Dallas Stars, who are three points back.
Finding a way to win against both the Kings and Ducks was crucial for the Avalanche, no matter how tight the games were.
Just like the previous Saturday's Stadium Series outdoor game against the Kings at the U.S. Air Force Academy, the second contest of the season between the clubs was also tight defensively. Colorado outshot L.A. 31-21, but only Ryan Graves' screened shot found twine in regulation for the Avs.
"I thought as the game moved on, the intensity of our game picked up and our puck moving, we were better moving the puck," said head coach Jared Bednar. "Then we started to generate a little bit more. I just felt like we got a little bit better as the game went on, especially second period and then we find a way to square up the game."
The two victories marked the Avalanche's fifth back-to-back sweep of the season, and its second in its last two instances. Colorado, which improved to 5-4-1 in the second game of back-to-backs, won at Columbus and Minnesota in its last consecutive-night set on Feb. 8-9.
The Avalanche has now won six straight road games, tied for the second longest road winning streak in franchise history (Nov. 11-Dec. 2, 2018) and the second longest such streak in the NHL this year.
The wins in SoCal were also a bit of redemption for Colorado, which had lost to both the Ducks and Kings earlier in the season. The Avs lost 3-1 to Los Angeles at Air Force last week and fell 5-2 to Anaheim on Oct. 26.
"I'm proud of the team from how we were able to find ways to get wins, like today and yesterday," Donskoi said. "Yesterday in Anaheim, we probably weren't feeling the best. We didn't have our best legs and a lot of guys out of the lineup. So I thought how we were able to battle and defend hard and block shots, and obviously [goaltender Pavel Francouz] played two amazing games in net. It's good to find ways to get wins."
The Avalanche has two back-to-backs remaining on its season schedule, with the next one set for the upcoming weekend when it plays at the Carolina Hurricanes and Nashville Predators on Friday and Saturday.

FRANKIE IN HOLLYWOOD

Avs goaltender Pavel Francouz picked up several firsts on Saturday night.
He started back-to-back games for the first time in his NHL career and then faced his first penalty shot in the league in the first five minutes of the game, an attempt that L.A. scored on. However, that was the only puck to get past Fancouz, who made 20 saves, not including all three in the shootout--also his first in the NHL.

Francouz, who recorded his first career shutout on Friday, has now won three in a row and hasn't given up a 5-on-5 goal since last Monday's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning; the Kings scored on a penalty shot and the New York Islanders tallied on a 6-on-5 in Wednesday's outing.
"It's the result of the team game. We're really playing well now," Francouz said. "I'm just trying to help the guys. We didn't allow much chances the last couple games. We played really well defensively, so I think it is mostly the team effort."
The keeper has started each of the past four games (3-0-1) for the Avs after Philipp Grubauer suffered a lower-body injury last Saturday versus the Kings.

SHOOTOUT SUCCESS

The Avalanche played in only its second shootout of the season and picked up its first victory in the tiebreaker.
Donskoi ended the night in the third round of the skills competition by waiting out Jonathan Quick before depositing the puck into an open net once the L.A. goaltender got out of position.
"I had an idea," said Donskoi on if he had a plan going into his attempt. "I know him very well because when I played with the Sharks we played a lot against L.A. and Quick. Usually he comes out of the net a lot, so I thought maybe there is a chance to go around him. I was happy I was able to do that."

Donskoi scored his second career game-deciding goal in a shootout and improved to 6-for-13 in the tiebreak.
"Obviously with a guy like Donny, with the numbers he's putting up, he finds a way to score some big goals in the shootout," Bednar said. "That's why we used him tonight. He came through for us, big time."