Rapid Recap: Avalanche 2, Kings 0

The Colorado Avalanche shutout the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 on Friday night at Ball Arena.
Philipp Grubauer stopped all 18 shots he faced for his fourth shutout of the season, setting a new career high for a single campaign.
Mikko Rantanen scored midway through the second period and then assisted on Nathan MacKinnon's empty-net marker with 1:23 remaining in the game. Devon Toews and Ryan Graves had assists on Rantanen's tally.

The Avalanche had a season-high 46 shots for the second straight game and only allowed the Kings to produce 18. It was Colorado's third outing in a row where it held an opponent to less than 20 shots on goal.

THE GOALS

1st Period
No goals
2nd Period
9:18 COL (1-0) - After a couple passes at the blue line by Devon Toews and Ryan Graves, Mikko Rantanen scored on a wrist shot through traffic in the high slot.
3rd Period
18:37 COL (2-0) - ENG, Nathan MacKinnon put the puck into the open net after receiving a pass from Mikko Rantanen on a 2-on-0 breakaway.
Final: Avalanche - 2 | Kings - 0

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 0 for 2
Los Angeles: 0 for 3

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Philipp Grubauer made 18 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and the 15th of his career.
Los Angeles: Cal Peterson returned to the lineup after a COVID protocol-related absence and stopped 44-of-45 shots faced.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

The Avalanche allowed fewer than 30 shots for the 15th straight game, setting a new franchise record for the longest such streak. The previous mark of 14 consecutive contests was set from Feb. 21 to March 22, 2001.
It was the third straight game that Colorado held an opponent to 20 or less shots on goal.

NOTEBOOK

The Avs had 17 shots in the first period, tied for the second most it's had in the first 20 minutes this season (Feb. 20 vs. Vegas at NHL Outdoors). Colorado had a season-high 18 shots in period 1 on Wednesday vs. Arizona … Mikko Rantanen's goal gives him four points (2g/2a) in the last four games and 16 points (6g/10a) in his last 13 contests ... Dan Renouf fought L.A.'s Matt Luff in the first period, for his first NHL fight and penalty of any kind … The Avalanche scored with 5:27 left in the third period but the goal was waived off as it was determined it was put in the net by the player's glove ... Colorado hosted its annual Hockey Fights Cancer Game and are now 9-3-1 on the special night ... The Avs are 3-1-1 through five contests of its season-long nine-game homestand ... Colorado improved to 2-1-0 after three outings of its eight-game season series versus the Kings.

QUOTABLE

Head coach Jared Bednar on hockey's fights against cancer: "I think it's real important. You look at our team and teams around the league that are trying to bring awareness and support the fundraising for Hockey Fights Cancer, I think it's something that hopefully someday we can find a cure for. Anything we can do to help and show support to people that have been hit by the sickness. Everyone in our room and in our organization knows somebody that's had it. It's something that we have to continue to work to find a solution for. We're excited to be a part of the night. Certainly, it's more fun when we can get past patients and people who have gone through some struggles with cancer in the stands with us and pay tribute to them, but tonight we'll just have to do it from a distance."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME

The fight continues.

ROSTER REPORT
The Avalanche didn't make any changes to its lineup from the previous game, starting the contest with the same forward combinations and defensive pairings that were used on Wednesday versus the Arizona Coyotes. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer started for the third straight game and the 21st of the season. Kyle Burroughs, Peyton Jones, Jayson Megna and Kiefer Sherwood are currently on the team's taxi squad.

INJURY UPDATE

Cale Makar (upper body) skated earlier in the day but did not take part in morning skate. Bowen Byram (upper body) and J.T. Compher (upper body) took part in the pre-game practice in red, non-contact jerseys. Head coach Jared Bednar said on Thursday that Byram was probably first of the team's injured group to return to the lineup. Conor Timmins is out with an upper-body injury. Dennis Gilbert (upper body) was a full participant in morning skate, donning a regular practice jersey and wearing a full face shield on his helmet. Defenseman Erik Johnson (upper body) and goaltender Pavel Francouz (lower body) remain out long term.

UP NEXT

The Avalanche hosts the Kings again on Sunday afternoon as the teams wrap up their two-game set. Game time has been moved up to 3:30 p.m. MDT (originally 5 p.m. MT), and the contest will be televised nationally in the U.S. on NBCSN.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on the start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
20 Brandon Saad - 91 Nazem Kadri - 95 Andre Burakovsky
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 17 Tyson Jost - 72 Joonas Donskoi
11 Matt Calvert - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 25 Logan O'Connor
Defensemen
34 Jacob MacDonald - 49 Samuel Girard
27 Ryan Graves - 7 Devon Toews
2 Dan Renouf - 5 Greg Pateryn
Goaltenders
31 Philipp Grubauer
32 Hunter Miska