Kings at Avalanche
The Los Angeles Kings are trying to catch the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card in the Western Conference, but they must rectify their road struggles with 11 of their final 17 games away from home. The reigning Stanley Cup champions have won only one-third of their road games (10-14-6) heading into Tuesday's matchup at the resurgent Colorado Avalanche. Los Angeles is 5-0-1 in its last six meetings with the Avalanche, including a 4-1 victory at Colorado on Feb. 18.
While the Kings are only three points behind Winnipeg and four back of Minnesota, the Avalanche trail Los Angeles by four points after winning three straight games and six of their last eight. Colorado has surrendered only three goals during its season-high three-game winning streak and now kicks off a three-game homestand. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who has made 22 consecutive starts, was forced to leave Sunday's 3-2 win over Minnesota late in the third period.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, NBC Sports
ABOUT THE KINGS (31-23-13): Since storming back into the postseason chase with an eight-game winning streak, Los Angeles has lost four of six and dropped its second 1-0 decision in that span to Pittsburgh on Saturday. “I think that’s more the type of game we want to play," captain Dustin Brown said. “Obviously we need to score a goal, but we had really good chances." Brown is among a number of players mired in scoring slumps - he has only one goal in his last 12 games, Justin Williams has two in his last 13 and Anze Kopitar has tallied twice in 20 games.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (30-25-11): Varlamov, who will participate in Tuesday's morning skate, was named the NHL's Second Star of the Week on Monday after going 3-0-0 with a 0.69 goals-against average, including his 18th career shutout in a 44-save gem against Columbus. Colorado called up Calvin Pickard from Lake Erie of the American Hockey League on Monday in case Varlamov is unable to play versus Los Angeles. Captain Gabriel Landeskog with goals in three consecutive games and nine tallies in the last 12 contests to move within one of his third 20-goal campaign.
OVERTIME
1. Kings G Jonathan Quick is 10-4-1 with two shutouts against the Avalanche.
2. Colorado has killed off 19 straight short-handed situations over the last eight games.
3. Kopitar has 32 points in 31 games versus Colorado.