The Colorado Avalanche secured a milestone victory\u00a0on Monday night, defeating the Los Angeles Kings 4\u20132 at\u00a0Crypto.com\u00a0Arena to capture the franchise\u2019s 1,750th regular-season win.<\/p>\n
A late third-period goal from defenseman Devon Toews proved to be the difference, while Martin Ne\u010das delivered a dominant three-point performance (one goal, two assists). Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog each contributed a goal and an assist as Colorado improved to\u00a040-10-9\u00a0on the season. In net, Mackenzie Blackwood turned aside 19 of 21 shots to anchor the win.<\/p>\n
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What Happened<\/p>\n
Colorado established control early.<\/p>\n
MacKinnon opened the scoring just\u00a04:27\u00a0into the first period, wiring a one-timer from the slot off a rush chance created by Ne\u010das. The goal \u2014 his 41st of the season \u2014 extended his torrid offensive pace and immediately quieted the home crowd.<\/p>\n
The Avalanche doubled their advantage\u00a0at 10:13\u00a0of the opening frame. Landeskog buried a one-timer from the high slot for his eighth of the year after a crisp setup from defenseman Brent Burns, showcasing Colorado\u2019s sharp puck movement through the neutral zone.<\/p>\n
It looked like the visitors were going to cruise to an easy win but Los Angeles responded late in the period. Brandt Clarke cut the deficit to 2\u20131 with a power-play blast from the point\u00a0at 17:20, beating Blackwood through traffic.<\/p>\n
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To begin the second period Martin Ne\u010das had a goal wiped off the board due to a quick whistle. Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg didn\u2019t have the puck secured and dropped it in the crease. But the officials deemed it no goal and play moved on.<\/p>\n
The Kings carried that momentum of good fortune and evened the game\u00a0at 8:32\u00a0when Angus Booth redirected a feed at the left doorstep, tying the contest\u00a0at 2\u20132.<\/p>\n
The game remained tightly contested until the closing minutes of regulation.<\/p>\n
With\u00a04:55\u00a0remaining in the third period, Toews broke the deadlock on his second goal of the season. MacKinnon controlled the puck high in the zone, skating from the point toward the right circle before threading a cross-ice pass into the slot. Toews stepped into the feed and snapped home his second goal of the season, restoring Colorado\u2019s lead\u00a0at 3\u20132.<\/p>\n
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Ne\u010das sealed the victory in dramatic fashion\u00a0at 19:59, scoring into an empty net on the power play for his 26th goal of the year to secure the 4\u20132 final.<\/p>\n
Colorado now turns its focus toward sustaining momentum as the regular season enters its decisive stretch. Unfortunately they lost the services of Artturi Lehkonen early in the first period to an upper-body injury and Jared Bednar stated postgame that the Finnish winger will miss some time.<\/p>\n
Upcoming<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a quick turn around as the Avalanche continue their road trip\u00a0Tuesday night\u00a0against the Anaheim Ducks, with puck drop scheduled for\u00a08 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast on Altitude, Altitude+, and Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Colorado Avalanche secured a milestone victory\u00a0on Monday night, defeating the Los Angeles Kings 4\u20132 at\u00a0Crypto.com\u00a0Arena to capture…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5126],"tags":[233,12966,2320,193,884,1772,2617,192,144,1543,7,5,186,1760,240,5303,793,145,5304,5302,1123,513,517,4,413],"class_list":{"0":"post-482644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-kings","8":"tag-anaheim-ducks","9":"tag-anton-forsberg","10":"tag-artturi-lehkonen","11":"tag-avalanche","12":"tag-brandt-clarke","13":"tag-brent-burns","14":"tag-california","15":"tag-colorado","16":"tag-colorado-avalanche","17":"tag-devon-toews","18":"tag-gabriel-landeskog","19":"tag-hockey","20":"tag-kings","21":"tag-la","22":"tag-la-kings","23":"tag-lakings","24":"tag-los-angeles","25":"tag-los-angeles-kings","26":"tag-losangeles","27":"tag-losangeleskings","28":"tag-mackenzie-blackwood","29":"tag-martin-necas","30":"tag-nathan-mackinnon","31":"tag-nhl","32":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116165176926933257","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}