Avs Loss To Kings A Learning Experience

Every game is a new learning experience with opportunities to develop, and the Colorado Avalanche will use its loss to the Los Angeles Kings as a growing exercise.
The Avalanche fell 7-1 to the Kings at Pepsi Center on Thursday in the second matchup between the clubs this season.
"This will be a good lesson for our guys," said Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar. "Now, we will look at some things in the video and have a good day at practice tomorrow, which is much needed, and then try to bounce back here and respond after the loss.

The Avalanche will have an opportunity to show its growth and rebound on Saturday when it hosts the Vegas Golden Knights for the first time.
"I got a lot of faith in our guys, I mean they have earned it. They have earned the trust of our coaching staff and their teammates all year long," said Bednar. "They've found a way to respond after wins and after losses and sometimes you just get beat… We know that we can do it, it's just up to our guys to respond and get back at it Saturday night."

Colorado started the game as the aggressors, outshooting Los Angeles 6-1 in the first three minutes and scoring a little more than three minutes into the contest. However, the Kings responded quickly and ended the period with a 15-9 edge in shots on goal.
The Avs had a chance to make it a 3-2 game at the start of the second period, but a Nathan MacKinnon shot hit the crossbar and the Kings scored their fourth of the night on the subsequent rush.
"They came at us and we just didn't seem to find an answer, and all of a sudden they were pretty opportunistic as well," said Gabriel Landeskog. "Obviously, scoring 4-1 at the start of the second period after we just hit the crossbar and things like that. That's a big point in the game, if we score off of Nate's crossbar there, one-goal game and things like that. But that's how small the details are at this point in the season, and for us it's just about regrouping."
The Kings' third goal came on the power play at the end of the first period and solidified the shift in momentum in L.A.'s favor.
"That penalty-kill goal is deflating," said Blake Comeau. "[The puck was] bouncing around a little bit, came up to Kopitar and he hit a wide-open net. I thought our power play moved it around a little bit the first couple power plays and maybe at the end there it wasn't our best, but our special teams have been pretty good all year, so that is just another area we got to clean up and I think everyone knows we will be better our next game."
The Avalanche was 1-for-2 on the penalty kill, just the ninth time Colorado has surrendered a power-play goal at home in 2017-18. The Avs are 107-for-116 (92.2 percent) in killing penalties on home ice, the top-ranked PK unit in the league.
"It just wasn't our best game tonight. I feel like after they got that second one, a little bit deflating, we didn't do a good job of answering," said Comeau. "They are a good team, a big physical team and they don't give up a whole lot. I liked our start, but not a lot we can take from this game. We have been pretty good as of late. Chalk this one up as a game where we just weren't our best and get ready for the next one."

BERNIER BACK IN

After suffering a head injury on March 10 against the Arizona Coyotes, goaltender Jonathan Bernier returned to the Avalanche lineup against the Kings.
He began the game as the backup before entering the contest at 12:27 of the second period to relieve Semyon Varlamov, who was playing in his 19th straight game.
"I thought he was pretty good, we hung him out to dry there on a couple shots, but when he first went in it's a tough situation," said Bednar. "I would say that's the one positive out of this game. We get an opportunity with the score going the way it's going to get him back in the net and get him to play some minutes. I thought he looked sharp, square, real calm and controlled early on.
"They got a couple goals but like I said, I don't know that he had much of a chance on either one of them. Good shooter coming at you on both of those occasions, and they picked a top corner on some pretty good shots. But to get him back in the net after his layoff here and feeling good about it, get another team practice tomorrow and then at least we got two guys we can lean on here to the finish."
Bernier has played in 32 contests for Colorado this season and owns an 18-11-2 record with a 2.83 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage.

STREAKS CONTINUE

Mikko Rantanen scored for the Avalanche to extend his point streak to eight games, matching his career-long stretch set earlier this year (Dec. 12-29). It was also his 80th point of the season, making him only the fourth Finnish player to register 80 points in a NHL season (Jari Kurri, Teemu Selanne, Olli Jokinen).
Nathan MacKinnon assisted on Rantanen's tally to extend his point streak to a career-long 14 games, the longest active streak in the NHL and the third-longest this season. It is the longest stretch by an Avalanche player since Paul Statsny's 20-game run in 2006-07.
MacKinnon (nine goals, 12 assists) and Rantanen (seven goals, 14 assists) each have 21 points this month, tied for the league lead in scoring in March.