Avs thump Kings, 4-1

In Denver, Philipp Grubauer made 27 saves  to help the Colorado Avalanche defeat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1, on Sunday.

The Avs improved to 16-8-2.

“Got some huge saves from ‘Grubie’ in the second period,” Colorado head coach Jared Bednar said. “One of them was a bad bounce and one was where he squeezed through our team in the neutral zone where we got caught flat-footed.”

Kurtis MacDermid scored the Kings’ lone goal.

“We want to get to the net as quick as possible,” the Avs’ Andre Burakovsky said. “I just saw ‘Naz’ in the corner, he was open and I was trying to get to the net. Our line’s (Burakovsky, Kadri and Brandon Saad) been finding our mojo a little bit and has been really good lately. We just have to keep that up.”

Burakovsky and Nazem Kadri had a goal and two points apiece in the win.

“We’re generating offense on rebounds and getting some good looks,” Kadri said. “That’s the identity of our team, our speed and possession. With the talent we have in this dressing room, we haven’t been scoring at the rate we’re used to, but that’s going to happen. You don’t lose that touch. Over time, I think we’re going to start to wear some teams out and hopefully generate some more goals.”

Joonas Donskoi also scored for the Avs.

“They’re a high-volume shooting team; they’re always throwing pucks at the net, they find ways to get it through, recovering pucks off the initial shots,” the Kings’ Mikey Anderson said. “I thought we came out a lot better [than Friday]. I felt we were more engaged physically and mentally throughout the whole game.

“Offensively, we found some ways to make some more plays, get a few more pucks to the net, create some chances. Overall it was better, but we’re not satisfied.”

Nathan MacKinnon  added an empty-net goal for the final score.

Calvin Petersen made 36 save in the loss.

“Outstanding, very calm,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said of . “[He] (Petersen) gave us a chance to steal one [Friday]. Today we played a better game, but we’re not at their level yet. But he was what we thought he could be and what he has been all year. He was outstanding.

“We created more, we had more in the offensive zone than we had [Friday] night. Some of these goals are preventable, but yet there could have been three or four others if Cal hadn’t stood on his head.”