MacKinnon's goal lifts Avalanche past Kings

LOS ANGELES -- The bass-heavy music pumping from the Colorado Avalanche dressing room was the soundtrack of a team going into the All-Star break happy.
Playing the second of back-to-back games and facing a third-period deficit against the normally tight Los Angeles Kings, Gabriel Landeskog scored his second goal of the game and Nathan MacKinnon got the go-ahead goal with 9:25 remaining to rally Colorado to a 4-3 win at Staples Center on Wednesday.

"This was an emotional one for us," Landeskog said. "We wanted to bounce back, and every time you go into a break like this the last game you play is also fresh in everyone's minds, and you want to build off of that and feel good about yourself during the break. We wanted to make sure that we played as good as we could."
MacKinnon one-timed a pass from Mikhail Grigorenko past Jonathan Quick five seconds after a Colorado power play expired, to complete a comeback from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits. Landeskog's second goal was an easy conversion from Tyson Barrie on the power play at 7:38 that tied the game 3-3.
The two-goal flurry gave the Avalanche (27-22-3) a win one night after a 6-1 loss at the San Jose Sharks.
"Good teams throw those away," forward Matt Duchene said of the loss to the Sharks. "You can't dwell on it. You can't bring it into the rink. You learn the lessons and you go from there."
The Kings (30-16-3), who outshot Colorado 38-19, lost for the fourth time this season when leading after two periods (18-4-0).
"I think our penalty-killing and our play in general was a little slow tonight," forward Dwight King said. "They move the puck pretty well, but … it's not like us."
King salvaged a forgettable second-period start for the Kings with a tap-in goal off a playmaker's pass from Jordan Nolan at 15:13, putting Los Angeles ahead 3-2.
It came after the Avalanche erased a 2-0 deficit on goals by Duchene and Landeskog. Duchene beat Quick with a shot from the right circle 42 seconds into the second for his 23rd goal, and Landeskog converted a huge rebound left by Quick on Blake Comeau's shot at 7:10.

The Kings outshot Colorado 18-5 in the first period and Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard kept damage to a minimum with 16 saves despite playing on the second straight night.
"He was phenomenal in the first period," Colorado coach Patrick Roy said. "Thank God he played that well."
Vincent Lecavalier gave the Kings a 2-0 lead when he stickhandled between his legs, went around Barrie and drove to the net to set up Trevor Lewis at 18:40. Lecavalier has four goals and two assists in nine games with Los Angeles.
Defenseman Drew Doughty made a similar play when he took Anze Kopitar's pass, burst past Nick Holden and lifted a backhand over Pickard at 9:31, with Milan Lucic in the penalty box.
Doughty's 10th goal of the season was the first shorthanded goal of his career.

But the Kings couldn't finish. "We've probably got some guys that played a little bit too much, overextending," coach Darryl Sutter said in assessing the third period.
"Two of the goals were power-play goals, and you give MacKinnon, [Landeskog] and Duchene that much time," Sutter said. "They were pretty dominant players tonight, those three guys. They're a high-scoring team and that's what happens."
Colorado forward Alex Tanguay was a healthy scratch.