In Denver, the Colorado Avalanche’s Philipp Grubauer made 18 saves to earn his seventh shutout of the season, 6-0, over the Los Angeles Kings.
J.T. Compher picked up his first NHL hat trick.
“It’s pretty cool,” Compher said. “It’s exciting to get three in a game when we’re pushing towards the end of the season and doing it at home, but all three goals were (set up) by great plays by teammates. Great job by those guys, made it easy for me.”
The Avs scored three goals in the first and second periods.
“The first period, the second period, the third period, execution,” Kings head coach Todd McLellan said. “A little more consideration for teammates when it comes to effort. I can go on and on. And you can write a book about it. I’m wasting my time here.”
Joonas Donskoi and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored in the first period for the Avs.
The two teams meet again, Thursday night.
“We know we kind of got it in our own hands and we can control our own destiny,” Colorado’s Gabriel Landeskog said. “Our goal from training camp was to win the League and to win the Presidents’ Trophy, to make sure we have home ice all the way through the playoffs. We’ve put ourselves in position to [do that by winning] a hockey game tomorrow. To do that would be a big step in the right direction, and then (we’ll) take on the next challenge after that.”
Landeskog also added a single marker for Colorado.
“I thought we came out with great jump,” Landeskog said. “First period, Grubi didn’t have much action in his end (three shots). We did a good job of keeping it in the (offensive) zone, turning pucks quickly in the neutral zone, and really getting in the hunt. It was nice to get a couple goals midway through the first, and it gave us a little bit of a cushion going into the second, but overall we kept playing well.” 
Calvin Petersen made 31 saves in the loss.
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