Kings at Avalanche
The Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche meet in Denver on Thursday in a game loaded with Stanley Cup playoff implications and featuring two potential Hart Trophy candidates. Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon is riding a 13-game point streak and is the main reason the Avalanche hold the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference while Anze Kopitar is also a strong Selke contender as Los Angeles sits one point behind the Avalanche.
"It's crunch time and I think, not just myself, but everyone is playing really well," MacKinnon told reporters after recording two assists in Tuesday's 5-1 victory at Chicago, giving him 13 goals and 26 points during his point streak and the Avalanche five wins in their last six games. "We're finding our gear and (Semyon Varlamov) has been really good, too. If you don't have goaltending, you're not going to win in this league, obviously. He's been awesome." The Kings split the first two contests of a four-game road trip, defeating Minnesota 4-3 in overtime Monday and losing to Winnipeg 2-1 in overtime Tuesday. "I think we got three out of four points against two tough opponents, which is a really positive thing,'' Los Angeles coach John Stevens told reporters. "But I think we want to be honest with ourselves and know we can play better. ..." The Kings won the first of three meetings this season 2-1 on Dec. 21 in Los Angeles on Dustin Brown's overtime goal for their third straight victory in the series with the final encounter April 2 in California.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FS West (Los Angeles), Altitude (Colorado)
ABOUT THE KINGS (40-27-7): Kopitar recorded an assist in each of the last two games and has two goals and 10 assists in his last nine contests, giving him team highs of 29 goals and a career-high 82 points. Dustin Brown (23 goals, 51 points) has three goals and two assists in his last four games and is on pace for his most goals and assists since 2010-11. Jeff Carter has eight goals and 10 points in 13 games since missing more than four months with an ankle injury while Drew Doughty (54 points) continues to build a case to win his second Norris Trophy in three seasons with eight assists in his last five games while averaging 26:47 of ice time - second-most in the NHL to Minnesota's Ryan Suter (26:49).
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (40-25-8): The MGM line featuring MacKinnon (team highs of 38 goals and 91 points), Gabriel Landeskog (56 points) and Mikko Rantanen (79) continues to produce at a high level with Rantanen recording his 26th goal Tuesday while matching MacKinnon with his 53rd assist. Defenseman Tyson Barrie also had a goal and an assist versus Chicago, giving him 15 points (six goals) during his career-high 11-game point streak. Varlamov (22-14-6, 2.69 goals-against average, .919 save percentage) has appeared in 18 straight games, starting 15 of the last 16, and is 6-1-3 with a .942 SP in March.
OVERTIME
1. Los Angeles C Trevor Lewis (14 goals, 25 points) is questionable to play after sustaining an upper-body injury Monday and missing Tuesday's game.
2. Colorado C Colin Wilson returned Tuesday after missing eight games because of a concussion and recorded an assist in 11:47 of ice time.
3. The Kings have alternated wins and losses in their last 10 games (5-3-2).