Quick burst pushes Avs over Kings
DENVER -- Patrick Wiercioch and Rene Bourque scored goals 22 seconds apart, Semyon Varlamov had 32 saves and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 on Tuesday night.
Wiercioch also had an assist and Blake Comeau scored in his return to the lineup for Colorado. Gabriel Landeskog scored an empty-net goal to seal it.
Dustin Brown scored for Los Angeles and Peter Budaj stopped 26 shots against his former squad. The Kings wrapped up their five-game road trip 1-3-1
Both teams were playing without key centers. Matt Duchene missed his second straight game with concussion-like symptoms and Anze Kopitar also missed his second game in a row with an upper-body injury.
The Avalanche entered the game struggling on offense. They went 111 minutes, 37 seconds between regulation goals before Wiercioch scored.
The Kings were within a goal midway through the third before Comeau gave Colorado a cushion. He skated out from the corner into the slot and fired a puck past Budaj at 11:32.
Los Angeles challenged the goal claiming goaltender interference but the play was upheld upon review.
It was Comeau's second goal of the season.
Budaj came off for an extra skater with 1:49 left and Landeskog scored into the empty net 12 seconds later.
The Avalanche ended their scoring drought with two goals in a span of 22 seconds.
Wiercioch broke the drought when he skated behind the Los Angeles net and stuffed the puck between Budaj and the post at 1:10 of the second period.
Colorado went up 2-0 when Bourque redirected Mikko Rantanen's shot from the point through Budaj's legs for his fifth of the season.
It was the fastest two goals by Colorado this season.
Moments after Varlamov stopped him on his second great chance, Nic Dowd centered a pass to Brown, who tipped it in at 19:29 of the second to cut Colorado's lead to 2-1.
It was only the second power-play goal in the last 33 chances for Los Angeles.
NOTES: Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said C Matt Duchene, who is out with concussion-like symptoms, could start taking part in contact drills Wednesday if he keeps improving. Duchene was on the ice for Tuesday's morning skate but was ruled out for the game. ... Kings C Anze Kopitar missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury. Coach Darryl Sutter said Kopitar is improving and might skate Wednesday after the team returns from its five-game road trip. ... Colorado LW Blake Comeau was back in the lineup after missing four games with a groin injury. ... Kings G Jeff Zatkoff is still out since injuring his groin against Ottawa on Friday.