In Los Angeles, Mikko Rantanen hit for a double and four points for the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night in a 5-2 win over the Kings.
“Just excited, I guess,” Rantanen said. “I missed some of camp, so I was just excited to play, and playing with good players helps also.”
Alexandar Georgiev made 34 saves in the win for the Avs.
Carl Grundstrom and Quinton Byfield were the LA strikers.
“Obviously, it wasn’t the result we wanted, and I think we’ve got a lot more as a team,” LA’s Alex Laferriere said.
Nathan MacKinnon scored in the eighth minute of the first period to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead.
Cale Makar pushed the advantage to 2-0 off a power play goal at 2:54 of the middle frame.
Rantanen picked up his first of the night to make it 3-0 in the second.
“They came out skating right away and created a bunch,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “They got a little stubborn with the puck at times through the neutral zone. But they’re also able to make a bunch of nice plays and create a bunch of scoring chances, so they get a little bit more leeway in those areas than others. And when the game moved into the third period, they were really disciplined with the puck.”
Grundstrom and Byfield scored late in the second period to get the Kings back to within one at 3-2.
“I thought what they did better than us was commitment to finishing things,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. “They went and got pucks. They got sticks on pucks. They got bodies in front of pucks. Broke plays up defensively that we didn’t. And then offensively, they went and got pucks and tipped pucks, and we didn’t do that.”
Rantanen scored five minutes into the third for a 4-2 lead, and Miles Wood added an empty net goal with just under four minutes left in the game.
Cam Talbot made 32 saves in the loss.
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