Avalanche score six against Kings, keep pace in West race

DENVER --J.T. Compher scored his first NHL hat trick for the Colorado Avalanche, who kept pace in the Honda West Division with a 6-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Ball Arena on Wednesday.

"It's pretty cool," Compher said. "It's exciting to get three in a game when we're pushing towards the end of the season and doing it at home, but all three goals were (set up) by great plays by teammates. Great job by those guys, made it easy for me."
Gabriel Landeskog had a goal and an assist, and Mikko Rantanen had three assists for Colorado (38-13-4), which has won four in a row and seven of its past eight games. Philipp Grubauer made 18 saves for his seventh shutout, which is tied with Semyon Varlamov of the New York Islanders for the most in the NHL.
The Avalanche are two points behind the Vegas Golden Knights, who won 6-0 against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday, but can clinch the No. 1 seed from the West and win the Presidents' Trophy for most points in the NHL with a victory against the Kings here Thursday.
"We know we kind of got it in our own hands and we can control our own destiny," Landeskog said. "Our goal from training camp was to win the League and to win the Presidents' Trophy, to make sure we have home ice all the way through the playoffs. We've put ourselves in position to [do that by winning] a hockey game tomorrow. To do that would be a big step in the right direction, and then (we'll) take on the next challenge after that."

Cal Petersen made 31 saves for Los Angeles (21-27-7), which has lost four straight (0-3-1).
"The first period, the second period, the third period, execution," Kings coach Todd McLellan said. "A little more consideration for teammates when it comes to effort. I can go on and on. And you can write a book about it. I'm wasting my time here."
Colorado coach Jared Bednar said Jonas Johansson will start in net Thursday.
"He's played well and we haven't played 'Grubi' in any back to backs all year," Bednar said. "We don't want to risk an injury or put him in a position where he does something that he normally doesn't do.
"'JJ's' ready to go tomorrow. If we play the way we can play in front of him, we'll give ourselves a good chance to win. We're going to need to make sure these guys are sharp going into the playoffs."
Joonas Donskoi gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 14:43 of the first period, scoring from the slot on the rebound of Andre Burakovsky's shot on the power play.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare made it 2-0 at 16:02 when he jammed in a loose puck five-hole on Petersen, and Compher increased the lead to 3-0 at 19:15 with a one-timer from the right face-off circle off a pass from Rantanen.
"I thought we came out with great jump," Landeskog said. "First period, Grubi didn't have much action in his end (three shots). We did a good job of keeping it in the (offensive) zone, turning pucks quickly in the neutral zone and really getting in the hunt. It was nice to get a couple goals midway through the first, and it gave us a little bit of a cushion going into the second. But overall we kept playing well."

Compher made it 4-0 at 4:16 of the second period, finishing a give-and-go with Devon Toews six seconds after a power play expired.
Landeskog scored his 20th goal of the season on a backhand from the slot to push the lead to 5-0 at 10:03.
Compher then completed the hat trick to make it 6-0 at 11:47 of the second when he shot a return pass from Valeri Nichushkin into an open net.
"I think it can spark him for sure," Bednar said. "I've really liked his game of late. He's been skating real well, hounding pucks. He has to be a tenacious player to have success. When he's skating and moving like he has in the last couple weeks, good things will happen for him. He's been a little bit snakebitten. You get a night like tonight, hopefully it will give him some confidence."
NOTES:Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon did not play because of an undisclosed injury and won't play Thursday, Bednar said. … Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard had an assist, three shots on goal and two blocked shots in 19:02 after missing the previous six games with a lower-body injury. … Rantanen has scored 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in eight games since returning from NHL COVID-19 protocol. … Burakovsky has scored 10 points (four goals, six assists) during a seven-game point streak.