Rantanen scores 30th, Avalanche defeat Kings without injured MacKinnon

LOS ANGELES-- Mikko Rantanen scored his 30th goal in the Colorado Avalanche's 3-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Friday.

Cale Makar had a goal and an assist, and Philipp Grubauer made 15 saves for Colorado (35-13-4).
The second-place Avalanche remained four points behind the Vegas Golden Knights in the Honda West Division; Vegas defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-3 in overtime Friday. The Golden Knights, Avalanche, Minnesota Wild and Blues have clinched the four Stanley Cup Playoff berths from the eight-team division.
"I thought our competitiveness and our work ethic and our forechecking, getting back above pucks, all those things we've been talking about, we did a nice job," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "We weren't perfect, but it was a real good step in the right direction here with still four games to go, so I liked the way we played tonight a lot."

Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon did not play because of a lower-body injury. Bednar said MacKinnon is "banged up a little bit" and did not want to risk him aggravating the injury so close to the playoffs.
Cal Petersen made 34 saves for Los Angeles (21-25-6), which was eliminated from playoff contention Friday.
The teams will play again here Saturday.
"It was a real good game for us to play and a great game for us to evaluate where individuals are," Kings coach Todd McLellan said. "We've got a long, long way to go to close the gap, but I think it's better for us to play in these games right now than to have some token games against some teams that maybe aren't in the playoffs."
Tyson Jost gave the Avalanche a 2-1 lead at 2:56 of the second period when his shot from the left face-off circle went in off Petersen's pads. Jost was the center on the first line in place of MacKinnon.
Makar made it 3-1 at 10:02 when Petersen was screened and late to react to his wrist shot.
"I don't think anybody can fill Nate's role, obviously, but collectively as a group everybody just has to step up," Makar said. "I think a lot of guys stepped up tonight, and defensively, I think we played a little bit better game. It's just going to be improving from there."
Alex Newhook, a forward selected by Colorado with the No. 16 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, had the secondary assist on Makar's goal for his first NHL point in his second game.
Gabriel Vilardi cut it to 3-2 at 17:26 of the third period.

Rantanen reached 30 goals for the second time in the NHL when he scored on a one-timer set up by Makar to tie it 1-1 at 5:49 of the first period. He scored 31 in 2018-19.
Rantanen is the third Avalanche player to score 30 goals in fewer than 50 games. He did it in 48 games, joining Joe Sakic (44 games in 1995-96) and MacKinnon (49 games in 2019-20).
"He's an elite player and he's had an elite season," Bednar said. "Last season, we talked about it, he had some injuries and had to fight through some adversity. But this year he's been healthy the whole time, he's taken on a leadership role, and he's going out every night to be a difference maker and that's regardless of who he's playing with or who's in the lineup."
Makar got his 40th point with the primary assist on Rantanen's goal, becoming the first Colorado defenseman with at least 40 in each of his first two seasons.
Brendan Lemieux put the Kings ahead 1-0 2:12 into the first period. Carl Grundstrom's shot from distance was stopped by Grubauer, but Lemieux put in the rebound from the slot.
NOTES: Avalanche defenseman Patrik Nemeth left the game after sustaining an upper-body injury in the second period when he went headfirst into the boards after getting tangled up with Kings center Jaret Anderson-Dolan. Nemeth was able to skate to the bench under his own power and went straight to the locker room. Bednar said Nemeth did not sustain a concussion. … It was Makar's 10th multipoint game this season. … Vilardi has three goals in his past two games. … Avalanche forward Andre Burakovsky had two assists.