Avalanche at Kings
After a less-than-successful two-game road trip against Pacific Division rivals, the Los Angeles Kings return home to face the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. Los Angeles earned just one of a possible four points on its trek, settling for a shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday before suffering a 5-1 setback against the Dallas Stars two days later. The Kings attempt to turn things around versus Colorado.
Los Angeles also looks to expand its lead for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs as it leads the San Jose Sharks by one point for fourth place in the Western Conference. The Avalanche are just looking to put together consecutive wins for the first time since early March. Colorado recorded a surprising 4-1 victory over the Ducks in Anaheim on Wednesday, a triumph that put it within one point of the Calgary Flames and an escape from the conference basement.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, NHL Network, Altitude (Colorado), KCOP-13 (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (13-22-5): Captain Gabriel Landeskog scored his West-leading third short-handed goal in Wednesday's win over Anaheim. Only Ilya Kovalchuk (four) of the New Jersey Devils has more. Jean-Sebastien Giguere's critical comments about his teammates appeared to have a positive effect as Colorado played arguably its best game of the season against the Ducks. "It was a bit of a spark for us, no doubt," Landeskog said. "Showing some emotion and getting (angry) I think is important."
ABOUT THE KINGS (22-14-4): Once Kari Lehtonen went down late in the first period with an injury, Los Angeles failed to take advantage of Dallas' backup as Richard Bachman stopped all 22 shots he faced. The Kings entered the third period tied with the Stars before uncharacteristically allowing four unanswered goals. "The wheels fell off, and that doesn't happen to this team very often," captain Dustin Brown said. Defenseman Matt Greene, who has been sidelined since undergoing back surgery in January, has been skating and hopes to participate in limited contact drills soon.
OVERTIME
1. Colorado had gone 0-11-3 in its previous 14 road games prior to Wednesday's win.
2. The home team has won three in a row and six of the last eight matchups between the teams.
3. Los Angeles' victory on Feb. 23 ended Colorado's run of five straight wins in the all-time series.
PREDICTION: Kings 4, Avalanche 1