Postgame Wrap: Avalanche Defeat L.A. Kings Despite Power Play Struggles

Winning at home has been almost automatic this year. On Monday, the Avalanche played their 18th game at Ball Arena and won for the 16th time, a 5-2 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Kings. Each of the last 14 at home has been a win for the home team.

Jack Drury, Martin Necas, Brock Nelson, Nathan MacKinnon, and Cale Makar all scored for the Avs, who improved to 29-2-7 on the season and have widened the gap between them and the Dallas Stars to eight points.

The Avs also have a game in hand on Dallas.

After a few strong saves from Mackenzie Blackwood early, the Avs managed to get on the board first. Ross Colton, back on the wing after a short stint at center, got to his man along the board in the L.A. zone with a strong forecheck and took the puck away from Alex Turcotte. He quickly sent it to a trailing Drury, who shot it in off of goalie Anton Forsberg’s pad.

Colton’s helper was his first point since Dec. 2, breaking a slump of 11 straight games, most of which came when he was shifted to his unnatural center positon.

The Avs struggled offensively otherwise in the opening frame against a stingy L.A. Kings defense. The Kings, led by coach Jim Hiller, are among the best at suppressing chances against. They entered this game as the only team, aside from the Avs, with fewer than 100 goals against.

Colorado had a power play in the first period that didn’t amount to much. The top unit struggled to get set up in the offensive zone. And this became a pattern throughout the night. Colorado’s power play finished 0-for-4.

“I didn’t like it tonight,” Bednar said of the power play, referencing his top players. “You know what, I thought the second unit did a nice job tonight. They saw more ice. They were dangerous.”

The lead didn’t last long in the second period. Following a holding penalty on Colorado’s Parker Kelly, the Kings tallied the game-tying goal off a redirection from Corey Perry at 5:15. Perry’s tally came with just four seconds remaining on what was an otherwise terrible L.A. power play.

Los Angeles finished 1-for-3 with the man advantage.

As usual this season, Colorado’s offense found its groove at 5-on-5, especially in the later stages of the second.

With the top line moving the puck well in the offensive zone, Necas was able to clean up a loose puck off the goal line, scoring his fifth goal in as many games at 13:21.

Necas sent a pass through traffic to Landeskog, but it hit Joel Edmundson and then the post. The rebound came out to Landeskog, who tried to shovel it home, but the puck instead sat on the goal line for Necas to finally score.

Before the period ended, Colorado added to its lead thanks to a wrist shot from Nelson at 17:30 that beat Forsberg clean. Nelson entered the zone with speed, collected a pass from Joel Kiviranta, and scored his 15th of the season.

Before Nelson’s tally, the Avs got a big shorthanded breakaway save from Blackwood. Adrian Kempe pounced on the puck after a bad pass from Makar to MacKinnon at the point, but Blackwood made the stop with his right pad.

The Avs netminder finished with 23 saves, as Colorado outshot the opposition 26-25. The only other puck that got past him was a shorthanded goal from L.A. early in the third period. The Avalanche’s power play and penalty kill each gave up a goal.

Despite their best efforts to tie it up, that was all the Kings could muster. MacKinnon tallied an empty netter and Makar scored after the fact for good measure.

Bad: Again, It’s The Power Play

Some nights, the PP doesn’t score but they move the puck well and get good looks. That wasn’t the case in this game, far from it.

The Avs couldn’t get any type of movement. They barely cycled in the zone and were constantly chasing pucks that the Kings’ penalty killers cleared away. The best chance on any of their power plays was the Kempe breakaway that Blackwood stopped with ease. And then, of course, the other shorthanded opportunity from Joel Armia that beat Blackwood.

Good: Blackwood’s Calming Presence

Speaking of the Avs’ goalie, Blackwood’s save on Kempe was just one highlight in a game where his calming presence made all the difference. He was reading plays well, squaring up to shooters, and always looked like he had a handle on the Kings’ looks.

Before the Avs got going in the first, Blackwood made several nice saves to allow Colorado to score first. Blackwood has been excellent all season and improved to 12-1-1 with a sparkling .924 save percentage.

This is the last game before Team Canada names its official roster. It’ll be interesting to see if Blackwood gets the call early Wednesday morning, coincidentally, when Jordan Binnington and the St. Louis Blues are in town.

Binnington is among the goalies in the running for Team Canada, along with Blackwood, Washington’s Logan Thompson, injured Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper, and perhaps even Scott Wedgewood.