"We had a couple good looks, but [L.A. goaltender Jonathan] Quick was up to the task," said Avs head coach Jared Bednar. "That's about it. We got to find a way to score a goal or two, and hopefully keep one or two of those out of the net. A couple funny bounces that went in. A couple strange ones."
Torrey Mitchell tallied first for the Kings after the puck caromed off the end wall and landed right in front of Colorado goalie Jonathan Bernier for a tap-in score. Dustin Brown gave Los Angeles a 2-0 lead before the first intermission with a short-handed tally that Bernier might have been screened on.
Alexander Kerfoot cut the deficit in half for the Avalanche with a power-play marker in the middle frame, but Kyle Clifford scored on a wraparound shot early in the third period after his original shot rebounded right to him and left Bernier in a vulnerable position.
Despite being back down by two goals, Colorado continued to stick with the process. The team finished with more total shots on goal (28-25) and attempts (54-51) than L.A. but couldn't solve the Kings' defense, as they collapsed into the slot after getting the lead and didn't allow many pucks to get through the traffic.
"That is when you need to be patient and when you get a chance to score your goal," said defenseman Nikita Zadorov. "That's the only way to win the game like that. L.A. is a good team. Give them credit, they played well today. Their defense played well. They played really good defensively, structurally, and it's been hard. It's been hard for us, but we got two more games left."
Despite the loss, the Avs remain in a playoff position, one point ahead of the ninth-place St. Louis Blues, who lost 4-2 at home to the Washington Capitals earlier in the night. St. Louis has played one fewer game than Colorado.
"It would have been nice," Bednar said of taking advantage of the Blues' loss. "It would have made our job over the last two games easier. Again, it's about our business. I'm not worried about St. Louis. I would like the help, we'll take it every chance we can get it, but we got to find a way to carve some points out. One out of four points so far on the road trip is not a good start."
Colorado now gets two days to recover and reset before closing out its three-game California swing at the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
The Avalanche is still confident it can make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the road there is now a lot tougher.
"Our mindset is we're underdogs," Zadorov said. "We go out there, and we're having fun. We have a young team, but there are still no excuses. We should be in this playoff spot, and we should be in the playoffs."
