Avs Look to Respond vs. Kings

With five games left in the regular season, the Colorado Avalanche will use its remaining outings to correct some of its recent mistakes as the playoffs draw closer.
The Avs are coming off a 3-2 loss at the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday and will place an emphasis on checking the right way and limiting turnovers tonight when they face the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center.
"We didn't like the way we checked in a few of the last games. We had a meeting about it at home and going into the Vegas game we got better and ended up winning a few hockey games, and then it kind of slipped on us last game again," said head coach Jared Bednar. "Part of it is our rush coverage and getting back above pucks and work by our forwards. I think we were checking with our eyes a little bit and not using our legs to get back above pucks. We didn't make it a hard enough on them att certain times. We didn't manage the puck great in those two games in San Jose either.
"Our puck decisions sort of come with our skating and our puck support. If we have good puck support and we are skating onto pucks, we tend to make better decisions than we did in portions of both those games. Cleaning those two areas up for me is really important because that's when we tend to give up the scoring chances that we don't like on turnovers or versus the rush. We've had a pretty good commitment to defend, especially in our own zone, but we have to be better up ice."

The Avs are 6-4-0 in their last 10 outings, including a 1-1-0 mark to open the five-game road trip. They sit in second place in the West Division with 72 points, four behind the division-leading Vegas Golden Knights.
"Last game and probably the game before that too, those last two games in San Jose, I don't think we were playing our best, and we are getting close to playoffs," said Joonas Donskoi. "We want to get our legs going, we want to get back to playing our best hockey so that's the main focus going into tonight."
Four of Colorado's five remaining games this year will come against Los Angeles, and the Avalanche is 3-1-0 against the Kings through the first four outings of the season series.
"We want to bounce back. We are trying not to lose two in a row. Not the best effort last game, but we know what we got to do to win," said J.T. Compher. "We got to be smart with the puck tonight, make sure we are not turning it over with their trap and get our speed going. Play with speed and confidence, and we should be good."

SAAD AND GIRARD INJURY UPDATES

Forward Brandon Saad and defenseman Samuel Girard are both in Denver doing off-ice training, progressing in their recoveries from their respective injuries.
Saad last played on April 24 at the St. Louis Blues and was given a two-to-four week timeline with a lower-body injury. Girard suffered a lower-body injury of his own on April 30 and was initially thought to be out for about two weeks.
"When you get into this stage of it, it is kind of day to day on how they are feeling and when they feel like they can go out and do some work without getting a setback with their injuries," Bednar said of both players on Thursday. "I would say there is even a possibility maybe we could get one or both of them back by hopefully the end of the week, it's just too hard to predict right now.
"In an ideal world, I would love to have them both back for the L.A. games at home, or at least one of them. After missing some time back-to-back can be difficult as well, but if they could get into games before the playoffs that would be fantastic. If not, then we will gear them up for the start of the playoffs. I'm hoping that is still a reasonable timeline for those guys."

ANOTHER BACK-TO-BACK

In the final week of the regular season, Colorado has two back-to-backs remaining, both against Los Angeles. In addition to this weekend's set, the Kings will visit the Avs to conclude the campaign on Tuesday and Wednesday at Ball Arena.
Tonight's outing opens the Avalanche's ninth time playing on consecutive nights this season. The Avs are a combined 12-1-3 in back-to-backs, with a 7-1-0 mark in the first game and a 5-0-3 record in the second.
The Avalanche has swept its last three back-to-backs, tying a franchise record for consecutive sweeps (sixth time).

NOTEABLES

Gabriel Landeskog sits one goal shy of his eighth career 20-goal campaign. Only Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk (both 11) have more 20-goal seasons since the franchise moved to Denver.
Having played 47 games this year, Mikko Rantanen sits one goal shy of his second career 30-goal season (31 in 2018-19). Since the franchise arrived in Colorado, only two Avalanche players have reached 30 in fewer than 50 games: Joe Sakic (44 contests) in 1995-96 and Nathan MacKinnon (49) in 2019-20.
Andre Burakovsky needs one goal to reach 100 for his career. He has a three-game goal streak.
Cale Makar needs one point to become the first defenseman in franchise history to record 40-plus points in each of his first two NHL seasons. Only five defensemen have done that over the last 15 years since 2006-07 (Adam Fox, John Klingberg, Rasmus Dahlin, Kevin Shattenkirk).
The Avalanche/Nordiques franchise sits one win shy of 1,500 regular-season victories (1499-1327-261-142). The Avs are aiming to become the 18th NHL franchise to reach 1,500 and the first among the 1979 WHA expansion teams.

ONE TIMERS

Head coach Jared Bednar on tonight's lineup: "We are still contemplating our lineup here. We got a couple guys that are banged up a little bit, so just still trying to make some last-minute decisions on it."
J.T. Compher on playing with different linemates: "It is something I am kind of used to playing here, it's been like that over the last couple years. We have a good lineup, we have good depth on our forward group so whoever is in or out, whoever is playing well, not playing well, we are able to mix around and fit in pretty nicely. We have all played together so something I am used to, and just whatever role I am in that night just try to execute it best as possible."
Joonas Donskoi on Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar recording 1,000 points: "A lot of respect. It is a great accomplishment and it's not easy, it's a tough league. To play that many games, get that many points, you have to be a good athlete I think, taking care of your body, coming to the rink every day trying to make yourself better. It's not easy, so huge respect for guys like him."