Avalanche win pillow fight against Kings in sleepy contest

Hockey sure is easy when you score all the goals in the game, isn’t it?

For the second straight game, the Avalanche rolled to a 3-0 shutout as the skaters for Colorado took a patient approach with a very banged up Los Angeles Kings roster and waited for mistakes to shake loose and then pounce.

That’s exactly how this played out as the Avalanche played a sealed-up defensive game that didn’t allow much for Kuemper to do, at least compared to his last three starts where he saw 46, 36, and 42 shots on goal. No, tonight the Avs locked down the Kings weak offense and Kuemper made just 23 saves en route to his fifth shutout of the season.

In reality, it’s Kuemper’s fifth shutout in his last 19 starts, so that’s pretty good. With Igor Shesterkin being a freak of nature in making the New York Rangers even relevant, Kuemper won’t have a realistic shot at chasing down the Vezina Trophy but like Philipp Grubauer last year, he might have a chance to slip in as a finalist if he keeps this level of play up.

He’s been great and has helped buoy a Colorado offense that has stopped firing at absurd cylinders and has come way back to earth. The recent trend of the Avs giving up way too many shots was halted tonight against a Kings team that was looking for points in their chase for the Pacific Division crown but also to put distance between them and the multitude of wild card contenders behind them.

That didn’t happen, however, because the Avs rolled into town and took advantage of a Kings club with nine players on Injured Reserve right now and none of their defenders from the season-opening roster available to them.

Instead of getting frustrated against that compromised group, the Avs jumped out early and hit two posts in the first four minutes of the game. After watching them dent iron in the last game against Calgary and especially tattoo the posts in Carolina last week, you couldn’t help but wonder if Colorado was in for “one of those nights” again.

The Avs got the game’s first power play and made it count as Mikko Rantanen made a slick cross-crease pass to Val Nichushkin, who ran a clean button hook around Nazem Kadri stationed in front of Jonathan Quick, and Nichushkin tapped home the perfect feed to make it 1-0.

It honestly felt like game over from there. The Kings never made a sustained, dangerous push for the rest of the game despite having some chances and four power plays. No, it was Colorado’s power play that ended up the story of this game.

The second Avalanche man advantage came in the waning moments of the second period after an iffy call on Martin Frk and was followed by a short-handed breakaway by Anze Kopitar.

Cale Makar got back and disrupted Kopitar’s attempt just enough that it didn’t even result in a shot on goal and he regathered the puck and got it going the other way. It was Makar’s shot that J.T. Compher tipped past Quick to make it 2-0 and really seal the game.

The third period was more of the same with the Kings getting enough puck possession that it wasn’t a dominant Avalanche affair but they just never did much with it. It sure felt like the scorers were being generous tonight by crediting the Kings with 10 high-danger chances and 22 scoring chances at 5v5 because the eye test never would have had either number close to that.

For that matter, I was surprised to see the Avs credited with 13 high-danger chances and 26 scoring chances at 5v5 because it just did not feel like that kind of game. It was the kind of slow slugfest that you were accustomed to seeing from the Kings back when they were competing for Stanley Cups, but the Avs were playing the role of bully and the Kings were the scrappy underdog getting beaten up all night.

When Mikko Rantanen lasered home a one-timer off a feed from Andre Burakovsky, it really drove the stake in the heart of the zombie Kings (because of the injuries, get it?) and ensured Colorado’s eighth straight victory over Los Angeles.

It was a pretty ho-hum affair on the ice but when you dig into some of the specifics of the game, it’s a pretty impressive showing from the Avalanche. A week ago, they had Sam Girard, Gabe Landeskog, and Tyson Jost in the lineup. Tonight, all three were out with just Josh Manson inserted in Girard’s vacated spot and the Avs playing a forward down because newly-acquired Nico Sturm hadn’t arrived in time for the game.

Hell, Manson, acquired yesterday from Anaheim but was with the Ducks in New York on their annual northeast trip, flew across the country and met the club this afternoon before the game. He had never played with Ryan Murray before playing 14:01 together tonight.

Manson finished third on the Avalanche blueline with 18:41 but I’d look for that number to increase as he gets a few practices in with the team and starts to, you know, learn the actual system of the club he’s now on.

Playing without a 12th forward, the Avs simply made it work with a constant rotation throughout the forward corps. It was fine for the night. Sturm is expected to join the club tonight and be ready to play on Friday in San Jose, Colorado’s last game before the trade deadline next Monday.

TAKEAWAYS

• I thought Manson played pretty well. We talked about his ability to deny zone entries as a skill that would fit particularly nicely on Colorado’s defense and it was his disruption of Trevor Moore coming into the offensive zone that actually helped create the offside that would be called after Colorado challenged LA’s only goal of the night. Moore clearly entered the zone ahead of the puck as he was tussling with Manson and the goal was pulled off the board. He had a couple moments where he didn’t seem entirely comfortable with where to go with the puck but given he had zero on-ice system installation before the game, it’s not too surprising he was a little unsure of himself in those spots. The shot metrics weren’t great but weren’t terrible. Murray and Manson should get a chance to really grow together over the next few weeks as Colorado’s second pairing. One night one, it showed plenty of promise and Manson finishing with 10 hits is a good example of what he brings to the table.
• Love Kuemper’s game right now. His puck tracking is excellent and his confidence is sky-high. He looks awesome. The only goal that got by him tonight was a perfect shot from Christian Wolanin. The Avs were fortunate to have it pulled off the board but it only made the game 3-1 anyway, so I’m not too worried about what might have come next. That shot and deflected shot from Ethan Bear in Carolina are the only ones to get by Kuemper in the last three games and only the Bear shot actually counted. He’s just playing great hockey for the Avalanche right now as their lineup goes through some changes.
• Newhook and Nazem Kadri have had such electric chemistry that if Colorado happens to land a player comfortable playing center before the deadline, they might consider keeping Newhook and Kadri together while having the new guy play 3C, possibly alongside Burakovsky to spread the talent a bit. I’m just thinking out loud here, but Newhook and Kadri have had instant chemistry and created a number of great scoring chances together the last two games. I want to see more of what they can do.