The Avalanche improved to 3-1-1 on its nine-game homestand with a 2-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Friday night at Ball Arena. Right winger Mikko Rantanen led the way offensively with two points, including the game-winning goal — his team-leading 13th. Goalie Philipp Grubauer made 18 saves for his career-high fourth shutout of the season. The game story is here.
Five takeaways
Shots galore. The Avalanche produced 46 shots, matching its total from Wednesday’s 2-1 overtime victory over Arizona. In shots against, the Avs only allowed 18 against the Kings just two nights after giving up just 14 to the Coyotes. The two-game shots differential: 92-32. That’s the first time a team has outshot opponents by 60 shots in a two-game span since the Boston Bruins in 1991.
Gruby goaltending. Grubauer’s fourth shutout of the season tied Vegas’ Marc-Andre Fleury for first in the NHL and it’s the most for an Avalanche goalie since Semyon Varlamov had five in 2014-15. It was the ninth of Grubauer’s career with Colorado, tying him with Peter Budaj for fourth place in club history.
Friday’s victory was Grubauer’s 50th in an Avalanche sweater and 14th of the season, second among NHL goaltenders behind Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy (16).
Defense wins championships. The Avs set themselves apart from Colorado’s 2000-01 Stanley Cup-winning team with their 15th consecutive game of allowing less than 30 shots. The Avs entered Friday tied with the 2001 champions with 14 consecutive games of not giving up 30 shots.
Colorado hasn’t allowed 30 shots since Jan. 31 at Minnesota.
“The system shows that it’s working,” Avs defenseman Ryan Graves said.
Unselfish. Rantanen could have easily scored the Avs’ second goal, but he unselfishly passed it to linemate Nathan MacKinnon and they both produced a point on the play.
This is hockey. If it were basketball, the guy in the position to make the uncontested dunk usually does.
“When you get a breakaway on an empty net you’re always looking around, first of all, to see if there’s nobody back-checking on you and then if you have teammates with you,” Rantanen said. “Itap a pretty easy decision there to just give it to Nate.”
Scoring first. The Avs improved to 13-3-1 when scoring first and 11-0-0 when leading after two periods. Taking leads is certainly a recipe for success for this team.
