Los Angeles @ Colorado preview
Ball Arena
Last Meeting ( Mar 12, 2021 ) Los Angeles 0, Colorado 2
The Colorado Avalanche have thrown a blizzard of shots at opposing goaltenders, which meshes well with what the state is facing this weekend.
A big snowstorm moved into Colorado on Saturday with totals expected to be up to 2 feet in areas. The forecast for that much snow prompted Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Kings to be moved from 7 p.m. local time to 3:30 p.m.
Los Angeles canceled its scheduled practice on Saturday. Coach Todd McLellan said several players weren't feeling well but doesn't believe it is COVID-19 related, according to NHL.com.
It is the second of two games between the teams. The Avalanche (15-8-2) won 2-0 on Friday night when they outshot the Kings 46-18, the second straight game they have put up that many shots. Colorado has 127 shots over the last three games but has scored just six goals, including one of them into an empty net on Friday night.
"We're fighting it a little bit now scoring-wise, but we're playing well," winger Mikko Rantanen said. "With this team and this talent, we know it's going to come soon."
Rantanen had a goal and an assist against the Kings and now leads the team with 13 goals. He could have had a two-goal night, but he passed the puck to Nathan MacKinnon for the easy score with 1:23 left.
"When you get a breakaway on the empty net you're always looking around, first of all, to see that there's nobody backchecking on you and you have teammates with you, so it's a pretty easy decision there just to give it to Nate," he said.
Colorado found it hard to score when Calvin Petersen was in net. He made a career-high 44 saves after being removed from the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list Friday morning after he was placed on it earlier in the week.
"It was a bit of a surprise," Petersen said Friday night. "I got notified I was being put in protocol and had to wait it out, take it day by day and follow the protocol. By (Friday) morning I was able to get released back. I think it was a false positive. Glad to be back, I'm glad it was handled well and I was able to join the team."
Petersen could be in net for a while with Jonathan Quick on injured reserve.
If the Kings (11-9-6) are to earn a split of the two games, they'll need to close the difference in shots from Friday night. They went a stretch of more than 13 minutes without a shot on goal and didn't have many scoring chances until a power play late in the game.
McLellan gave the Avalanche credit but said his team needed to play better.
"Our guys, I didn't think our team, to a man, we didn't play well," he said after the loss. "We didn't execute when we did have time, we didn't make the plays we needed to make. But don't take anything away from how well the Avalanche played."
--Field Level Media