The Colorado Avalanche traveled to Los Angeles to take on the Kings on Monday night. It was the start of their 10th back-to-back of the season, leaving only two more to go. The Kings were playing without eight of their normal starters in the lineup, allowing for three NHL debuts. One of them would be former University of Denver Pioneer Jared Wright. But in the end, the defense came through for the Avs, on both ends of the ice with their 4–2 victory.

View from the Mountaintop

The Avalanche started out looking refreshed from their victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday. Colorado came out of the gate flying as they screamed up and down the ice to start the game. It would take under five minutes for Colorado to take advantage as Gabriel Landeskog sent a saucer pass to Martin Necas in the neutral zone. Necas sent the pass over to Nathan MacKinnon for the perfect one-timer.

Colorado kept moving forward when Necas grabbed a loose puck and passed it to Brent Burns at the blue line. Burns set Landeskog up for a one-timer that was eerily similar to the goal he scored to open the Olympics.

As the first wound down, Josh Manson was called for a trip. It took only five seconds for the Kings to convert as Brandt Clarke nailed a shot.

With the start of the second period, Colorado tried to swing the momentum back their way. Five minutes into the second, Colorado was dominating as MacKinnon shot the puck on Anton Forsberg. The puck came loose and Necas grabbed it and threw it in, but the official blew it dead.

Three minutes later, rookie Angus Booth whipped a shot into the net for his first career goal in his first career game to tie it at two.

The game evened out late in the third period. MacKinnon and Cale Makar had a give and go with Devon Toews, drawing the puck low. MacKinnon sent the puck across the slot and Toews finished the job.

Necas added an empty-net goal to end the game. The big concern is that Arturri Lehkonen had an upper-body injury in the first period. He played only three shifts before exiting the game. Jared Bednar has already said that he is not playing on Tuesday, so expect a call-up from the Eagles.

Up Next

The Avalanche will hop on the bus to travel down the road and take on the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday at 8 p.m. MT. Altitude Sports will broadcast the game.