In keeping with the NHL dictate that there is no such thing as an easy game in the final month of the season, the Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings completed the second half of a playoff-style, barn-to-barn series Wednesday night.
It was a battle all the way, and just like Monday’s in L.A., this one went to overtime. When it was over, the Avalanche had a 4-3 shootout victory at the Pepsi Center.
The Avs outshot the Kings 18-5 in the first period, helped along by four separate power plays. They took advantage on two, on goals by Milan Hejduk and Paul Stastny.
Matt Hendricks got the scoring started with a wraparound goal at 7:38, his eighth of the season. Kevin Porter got his first career point for the Avs on the play.
Stastny’s goal made it 3-1 at 18:08, and things looked good. But a season-long trend of sitting back with leads came back to haunt them again. The shot total declined to nine in the second period, and the Kings started to get some stability back in their game.
Within the first two minutes of the third, it was a 3-2 game on Drew Doughty’s power-play goal.
The Avs didn’t totally go into a shell, though, getting a few scoring chances on relief Kings goalie Erik Ersberg after Doughty’s goal. That helped relieve some of the pressure on Avs goalie Craig Anderson.
But Anderson could not stop Alex Frolov’s tying goal for the Kings with 1:21 left, on a power play. Brett Clark put the Kings on the PP with a holding call.
