LOS ANGELES — Winning big is common for the NHL’s highest-scoring team. Winning ugly can be beautiful, too.
The high-flying but exhausted Avalanche proved over two games in Southern California that all victories count the same. The Avs won’t look to repeat their “style” performances in Anaheim and L.A., but under the circumstances, coach Jared Bednar said he was “pretty proud of our group.”
Colorado (27-8-3) finished 5-0 in a seven-day span that included two back-to-back stretches. Outshot 34-15 through two periods Thursday against the Kings, the Avs received great goaltending from Darcy Kuemper and timely goals in a 4-1 victory that extended their points streak to 11 games (10-0-1).
“We had a talk after the second period and just said, ‘We just got to come together. We got to find a way to get it done. It’s ugly. So we’re going to simplify and not try to do all the things we normally do when we’re full of energy and we’re executing at a high pace.’ We weren’t doing that tonight,” Bednar said.
“They were making it difficult on us. They defend really well. You just got to stay together in a pack and take care of the puck better than we did in the first two periods — and we did that.”
Colorado, which defeated Anaheim 2-0 on Wednesday, outshot the Kings 12-7 in the third period, tacking on two goals from what was a 2-1 lead.
“I liked our third period. It was simple,” Bednar said. “Every puck we touched in the D zone in the third period, we managed to get it out — at least into the neutral zone. We were advancing the puck through the neutral zone better, putting it in behind their D, and getting a little forecheck going. In the first two periods, we weren’t doing that. They had us on a three-quarter ice game for the bulk of the first two periods and we were just kind of hanging on.
“So to finish the game the way we did with the stretch we’ve been on, hey, we’ll take the two points.”
#Avs coach Jared Bednar after 4-1 win in LA pic.twitter.com/5dy3tAjTOZ
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers) January 21, 2022
Footnotes. The Avs’ .750 winning percentage is tied with Carolina for highest in the league. … Avalanche star center Nathan MacKinnon, who leads the team with 126 shots on the season, had just one shot in the two games in Southern California — and none in the first five periods. He still collected assists on Colorado’s first and fourth goals against the Ducks. … The Avs traveled back to Denver late Thursday night and had Friday off. They begin a three-game homestand late Saturday afternoon against the Montreal Canadians. They are Colorado’s fourth opponent this week. Colorado will take a club-record 14-game winning streak at Ball Arena into the homestand, which includes games against the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday and the Boston Bruins on Wednesday. The Avs have just one game from Feb. 2-10 because of the NHL All-Star break and what was originally reserved for the league sending players to the Olympics.
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