MacKinnon hat trick paces decimation of the desperate Kings

This game had such an interesting feel to it starting at morning skate. 

On one hand, you had the Colorado Avalanche, who were rested, and sitting comfortably atop the Central Division. Their main focus the rest of the way is fine tuning the details of their game as the postseason approaches. 

On the other, the Los Angeles Kings. Playing for the second night in a row, and fighting for their playoff lives. 

The Kings, understandably, opted for an optional morning skate that featured exclusively would-be healthy scratches, as they let their guys get as much rest as possible as they prepared to play a desperate game against the NHL’s top team. 

Furthermore, the team that LA is primarily in a playoff race with is the Vegas Golden Knights, a team the Avs have developed a nice little rivalry with in just a few short years, and would probably love to see miss the playoffs. So we were all sitting here in the press box wondering what the odds the Avs take it easy on the Kings and maybe let them squeak out a point to further hurt Vegas’ playoff hopes might be.

Well, apparently the odds were extremely slim, as the Avalanche came out and just hammered the Kings in their first game back at home in 10 days by a final score of 9-3.

You could feel it in the building, and see it in their body language during warmups, the Kings are tired. They’re dealing with a ton of key injuries, and the clock may be approaching midnight on what has been a cinderella story of a season so far. 

The Avs just looked like they were too much to handle early on in this one. The first four minutes of the game looked like Colorado was on the power play, they just wouldn’t give up the puck. The had LA chasing all over the zone, any time a Kings player did get to a loose puck, they were quickly swarmed by Avalanche forecheckers and forced into a turnover.

Eventually, it was Nicolas Aubé-Kubel who got two whacks at a loose puck in front, getting the second one to sneak through Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick. 

Less than a minute later, Val Nichshkin took advantage of what could be described as a broken play in front of the net, as a pass originally intended for Bowen Byram, bounced its way to Nichushkin, who out-waited Quick to give the Avs a fast two-goal lead. 

You could see the heads drop on LA’s bench. They desperately needed a good start so that they weren’t having to chase late in a game that was already going to be an uphill battle for them in terms of keeping their legs fresh. Not only did they not get it, but the Avs were just taking it to them. 

Colorado has proven time and time again this season that you simply can not make mistakes against them, or they WILL make you pay. 

Los Angeles looked out-classed in every facet of the game in the first period, eventually being forced into taking a penalty as they tried to contain Nathan MacKinnon.

The ensuing power play just turned into another puck possession clinic for the Avs, as the top unit controlled the puck for nearly all two minutes of the man advantage before Nathan MacKinnon blasted a one-timer right through the five-hole of Johnathan Quick. 

After getting the surprise start (he played last night), that third goal was the end of Quick’s night. 

I took it as more of a mercy pull than anything else from Kings coach Todd McLellan, and an attempt to wake his team up before the game got completely away from them. 

Spoiler alert! It didn’t work. Aubé-Kubel came down, again less than a minute later, and threw a shot on from the high slot that just evaded relief goaltender Cal Petersen and stitched the Avs lead to 4-0. 

The first period couldn’t end fast enough for LA.  It had been an unmitigated disaster. 

This was a game the Kings really had to have. We knew the cards were stacked against them coming in, (back-to-back, at altitude, against the top-seeded team in the league), but I wasn’t expecting them to just lay down like this. 

Let’s give the Kings some credit here, the second period started and it looked like something had been said that got them revved up as they came out in the middle frame and looked poised to try and make it a game.

Less than two minutes in, Adrian Kempe beat Darcy Kuemper to give his team some life. For the next 10 or so minutes, Los Angeles, playing with a new sense of urgency, controlled the pace and Darcy Kuemper had to be sharp.  

Just past the halfway point, Alex Iafallo tipped a shot from the point and pulled the Kings within two, it looked like we had a game on our hands. 

The Avs had only mustered up one shot to that point in the period, and suddenly the Kings were feelin’ it a bit. 

What was it I said earlier though? You can’t make a mistake against this Avs team, and that’s exactly what LA did. 

Just three minutes later, a bad defensive zone turnover landed on the stick of Nathan MacKinnon, who fed Andre Burakovsky right in the slot for a one-timer that blew by Petersen before he knew what had happened. 

You could tell right then that this game was over. The Kings were just out of gas. They had nothing left. 

The period ended with Cale Makar springing himself on a shorthanded breakaway, getting slashed to draw a penalty, then scoring off a scorcher of a one-timer on the ensuing power play. 

After what started as such a positive period of hockey for the Kings by cutting the lead to 4-2, ended with the Avs right back on top by the same margin they came into the period with at 6-2.

The third period went exactly how you expected it to, the Kings just trying to get to the end, and the Avs giving them the Generals-Globetrotters treatment.

Nathan MacKinnon would net a hat trick (and five total points), Aubé-Kubel and Val Nichushkin finished with a pair of goals each, and Cale Makar’s name was all over the scoresheet with four points.

After the Avs hung three more on the board in the first 10 minutes of the period, “we want 10!” chants broke out inside Ball Arena. While they couldn’t quite get to double digits, it was a dominating performance from the Avs, which is exactly what you want when you’re staring down being on the other end of the back-to-back tomorrow night. 

The win set two franchise marks, this Avalanche team now holds the record for most wins in a season (53), and most home wins in a season (29). It was a fun night in Denver.

TAKEAWAYS (from AJ, not Jesse)

• I wanted to use this space to talk a little about the Ben Meyers signing today versus writing an entire piece on him that is mostly just me being excited about him but not having a ton to really say or show to go along with it. Basically, it’s a great get for the Avalanche. Undrafted NCAA UFAs haven’t made many big impacts in recent years (most of the college UFAs that become impact players were drafted), but Meyers is a little different breed. Despite not being drafted, he turned down NHL opportunities after both his freshman and sophomore seasons in college. After this past year, he finally felt it was time to make the jump but it’s really rare you find a guy who believes in himself to that degree. So, confidence is clearly not a problem. From Colorado’s perspective, however, they get a young center who plays the game to their identity with a skillset built around speed and hockey IQ. He’s not overly big, but he maximizes his talent and shows a little creativity with the puck along the way. We’ll see about the skill level but all of the rest of the tools profile out to a pretty solid depth NHL player. The answer to the skill question will determine how high in the lineup he rises, but he’s going to be an interesting guy to follow.
• Because of the rules regarding reserve lists at the trade deadline (as a UDFA, Meyers wasn’t on one), he is not eligible to play in the postseason for the Avs or Eagles this year. Of note in his contract, a two-year ELC that begins immediately, was a game played bonus of $25K to be paid this year if Meyers reaches however many games are required. That wasn’t negotiated in there by accident so it was no surprise when Jared Bednar said Meyers would get into games at the end of this season even though he cannot help them in their postseason quest. It will be fun to see what he brings to the table. A big-time stunner that he chose the Avs over a list of suitors that included most of the NHL.
• Feel a little bad for Calvin Petersen. Coming into tonight, he was 0-7-0 against the Avs in his career. In relief of Quick, he gave up goals 4-9 and when Phil Danault scored the meaningless third Kings goal late in the third period, it meant Petersen was officially the goaltender of record and is now 0-8-0 against the Avs.
• Colorado’s magic number for clinching first in the west is down to six and down to five for the Central Division. They remain just two points ahead of the Florida Panthers in the race for the President’s Trophy.
• The Avs set a franchise record with their 53rd win of the season. Now, the legendary teams from the glory days had to contend with ties, so there’s the tiniest asterisk next to it, but this year’s team has simply won more games than any other Avs team ever. They are just six points behind the great 2000-01 Cup-winning team for best regular season in Avalanche history. In terms of points percentage, three of the six best seasons in franchise history have been the last three years. It’s okay to enjoy that.