In Los Angeles, the visiting Colorado Avalanche defeated the Kings on Thursday night, 4-1, Darcy Kuemper made 40 saves to get the victory.
“I thought we did a good job, obviously, of doing what we had to do to defend,” Kuemper said. “You know, we’re used to having the puck for long stretches of time, and that wasn’t really the case tonight. But we found a way to win in a different style, and that’s really important.”
Anze Kopitar was the lone goal scorer for the Kings.
“Well, we played with them,” Los Angeles head coach Todd McLellan said. “I think last year at the end of the year, it wasn’t a real game when we played against them, but we didn’t have a lot of the pieces that we have right now. It was a competitive night, it was a hard night. I really believe we can play with any team in the League.”
Mikko Rantanen picked up a goal off the power play and two points in the Avs win; his goal gave the Avs a 1-0 first period lead.
Kiefer Sherwood pushed the lead to 2-0 in the middle frame.
The Avalanche improved to 27-8-3.
“Pretty happy that we’re able to keep carving points through games like this,” Colorado head coach Jared Bednar said. “It says a lot about our group.”
Colorado’s Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored early in the third period for a 3-1 lead.
“I think [O’Connor] didn’t see me at first, and then he was about to clear it, and then he kind of like slowed his motion down,” Aube-Kubel said. “I think that’s what I saw from the ice. That’s why the pass wasn’t like really sharp. … I was thinking about my move, but then didn’t get time to do my move. I just shot it.”
Devon Toews added a late empty-net goal for the 4-1 final.
The Kings fell to 20-16-5.
Jonathan Quick made 23 saves in the Kings loss.
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