COLORADO AVALANCHE NOTES:
TONIGHT’S GAME
COLORADO AVALANCHE (47-24-6, 100 PTS) at LOS ANGELES KINGS (45-24-10, 100 PTS)
8:38 p.m. MT / 7:38 p.m. PT – Crypto.com Arena
Altitude / 92.5 FM
The Colorado Avalanche continues their four-game California road trip tonight in Los Angeles against the Kings … The Avs opened the trip with a pair of wins in San Jose … Tonight’s contest is the first half of a back-to-back for the Avs, who finish this road swing in Anaheim tomorrow night … The Avs are 12-2-0 in their last 14 games, 19-5-1 in their last 25 contests and 27-7-3 in their last 37 games … The Avalanche have won eight consecutive road games, one shy of equaling the longest road winning streak in franchise history … Colorado is 12-1-0 in its last 13 road contests and 15-2-1 in its last 18 away from the Mile High City.
ON THE CALL
Altitude: Marc Moser (play-by-play), Mark Rycroft (analyst), Kyle Keefe (reporter)
Altitude Radio: Conor McGahey
LAST GAME
April 6 – Colorado 6, San Jose 2 at SAP Center
Mikko Rantanen notched his third hat trick of the season and surpassed the 50-goal mark for the first time in his career as the Avalanche beat the San Jose Sharks, 6-2, at SAP Center … Rantanen also had an assist and Nathan MacKinnon added a four-point night of his own (1g/3a) … Ben Meyers scored twice for his first career multi-goal game and Matt Nieto and Samuel Girard added two assists each.
SF: 31 SA: 23 PP: 0-1 PK: 1-1
The Avalanche won their eighth consecutive road game, the second longest streak in franchise history, and matched their single-season franchise record with 26 road wins … The Avs are 12-1-0 in their last 13 road contests and 15-2-1 in their last 18 The Avalanche reached 100 points for the second straight year and ninth time in franchise history The Avs are 12-2-0 in their last 14 games, 19-5-1 in their last 25 contests and 27-7-3 in their last 37 games Rantanen became the Avalanche’s first 50-goal scorer since Milan Hejduk in 2002-03 … He joined Hejduk and Joe Sakic (twice) as the only players since the franchise relocated to score 50 … Mikko is the fifth player in franchise history to hit the 50-goal mark … He’s the third Finnish-born player in NHL history to score 50 goals, joining Jari Kurri (four times) and Teemu Selanne (three times) Rantanen reached the milestone exactly 20 years to the day that the last Avalanche player, Hejduk, potted his 50th on April 6, 2003 Rantanen’s hat trick was his third of the season, the first player in Avalanche history to record three hat tricks in a single season … A Nordiques player had three hat tricks in a season on five occasions but Rantanen is the first to do so since the team moved to Denver Rantanen notched his 10th multi-goal game of the season, joining Sakic (12 in 1995-96) as the only players in Avalanche history to have double-digit multi-goal games Rantanen moved into a tie with Peter Forsberg (217) for eighth place on the franchise’s all-time goal list MacKinnon scored the game-winning goal for the third consecutive game, matching the franchise record … Michel Goulet tallied three straight GWG from Dec. 3-10, 1983, Keith Jones from Nov. 6-9, 1996 and Milan Hejduk from Dec. 27, 2000–Jan. 2, 2001 MacKinnon has 67 assists on the year, the most by an Avalanche player since Peter Forsberg had 77 in 2002-03 MacKinnon’s notched his 34th multi-point game of the season, one shy of the Avalanche record (since relocating) set by Sakic (35) in 1995-96 Rantanen has 10 points (4g/6a) in three games this month, while MacKinnon has nine points (5g/4a) in three April contests Girard had two assists and was a career-best +5 … His two assists gives him 35 points for the season, a new career high … It was Girard’s 28th career multi-assist game, tying John-Michael Liles for fifth place on the franchise’s multi-assist list by a defenseman Toews set a career high with a +5 rating … He paces the team and ranks third in the NHL with a +41 plus/minus rating this season … He is a league-best +122 since joining the Avalanche in 2020-21, by far the best in the NHL
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Apr. 3 – Ben Meyers recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
Apr. 1 – Ben Meyers reassigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL) … Brad Hunt cleared waivers
CURRENT INJURIES
Pavel Francouz – lower body (Feb. 14 – present)
Darren Helm – lower body (April 4 – present)
Gabriel Landeskog – knee (Oct. 12 – present)
Artturi Lehkonen – finger (March 15 – present)
Cale Makar – lower body (April 4 – present)
Josh Manson – lower body (March 4 – present)
Total Man-Game Lost: 435
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT – LOS ANGELES KINGS
The Avalanche and Kings close out the season series with the third and final matchup of 2022-23 … This is the lone meeting in Southern California, as the first two games took place in Denver … The Avs are 0-1-1 against the Kings this year … Los Angeles’ Dec. 29 overtime victory snapped the Avalanche’s nine-game winning streak against the Kings … That was the longest winning streak by either team in this series …. Colorado is still 9-1-1 in its last 11 versus LA and 13-4-2 in the last 19 matchups since the start of the 2018-19 campaign.
SCHEDULE vs. KINGS
Dec. 29 vs. LOS ANGELES (O, 4-5)
Mar. 9 vs. LOS ANGELES (L, 2-5)
Apr. 8 @ Los Angeles
RECORD vs. KINGS
THIS SEASON 2021-22 ALL-TIME SINCE 1995-96 PLAYOFFS
Overall: 0-1-1 Overall: 3-0-0 Overall: 67-67-16 Overall: 49-45-12 Series (record): 2 series (2-0)
Home: 0-1-1 Home: 1-0-0 Home: 38-30-6 Home: 28-21-3 Record Overall: 8-6
Road: — Road: 2-0-0 Road: 29-37-10 Road: 21-24-9 2001 CSF (W, 4-3), 2002 CQF (W, 4-3)
LOS ANGELES KINGS NOTES:
APRIL 8 vs. Colorado Avalanche – 7:30 PM PT // Venue: Crypto.com Arena // TV: Bally Sports West // Radio: iHeartRadio
- The LA Kings host the Colorado Avalanche for the third, and final, meeting between these two clubs this season (5-4 SOW on Dec. 29; 5-2 W on Mar. 9).
- The Kings aim to sweep the season series vs. Colorado for the seventh time in franchise history and the first since the 2017-18 season (3-0-0).
- Tonight’s game marks the second to last home game of the season for the Kings (Apr. 10 vs. VAN).
WARM-UPS
1) Forward Phillip Danault has four goals over his last three games against the Avalanche, including a multi-goal effort (2-0=2) when these two teams last met on March 9 in Denver.
2) No Pacific Division team has scored more goals against the Central Division this season than the Kings (75).
3) Blake Lizotte’s 1.84 penalties drawn-per-60 minutes ranks fourth in the league among all skaters (min. GP: 70).
4) The Kings (5-for-5) are one of five teams to be perfect in coach’s challenges this season: Calgary (7-for-7), Chicago (5-for-5), Philadelphia (5-for-5) and Toronto (6-for-6).
5) Only Carolina (41) and Boston (35) have more wins when outshooting their opponents this season than the Kings (34).
vs. COLORADO ALL-TIME:
All-Time Record: 75-62-8-5
Home: 42-25-5-4
Away: 33-37-3-1
OT: 11-5 (5 ties)
Shootout: 4-4
2021-22: 0-3-0
2022-23: 2-0-0
FRANCHISE LEADERS vs. COLORADO:
Anze Kopitar* – 60 GP, 56 PTS (18-38=56)
Luc Robitaille – 40 GP, 52 PTS (32-20=52)
Marcel Dionne – 25 GP, 39 PTS (16-23=39)
Wayne Gretzky – 16 GP, 39 PTS (9-30=39)
Dustin Brown – 60 GP, 38 PTS (16-22=38)
*-denotes active roster player
LAST MEETING vs. COLORADO: Mar. 9, 2023 – LAK 5 at COL 2
Venue: Ball Arena
LAK Goals: Kempe (31, 32), Vilardi (22), Danault (17, 18)
COL Goals: Rodrigues (13), MacKinnon (27)
Goalies: LAK: Korpisalo (W; 28 saves – 30 shots) COL: Georgiev (L; 26 saves – 30 shots)
LAK PP: 0-for-4
LAK PK: 2-for-3
2022-23 REMAINING REGULAR-SEASON SCHEDULE:
Mon., April 10 | vs. Vancouver Canucks | 7:30 p.m. PT | Bally Sports West | LA Kings iHeart Radio Audio Network
Vladislav Gavrikov has seven points (1-6=7) in eight career games against the Canucks.
Thurs., April 13 | at Anaheim Ducks | 7:00 p.m. PT | Bally Sports West | LA Kings iHeart Radio Audio Network
The Kings wrap up their 2022-23 regular-season schedule with a visit to the Honda Center in Anaheim.
INJURY & MGL REPORT
Player, Games Missed, Date(s), Status
F Trevor Moore, 23 games, Dec. 27 – Jan. 31 (upper-body); Feb. 23 – Mar. 6 (upper-body)
F Alex Iafallo, 23 games, Oct. 18 – Dec. 3 (lower-body)
F Brendan Lemieux, 18 games, Nov. 14 – Dec. 20 (lower-body)
F Arthur Kaliyev, 18 games, Dec. 22 – Jan. 31 (lower-body)
F Carl Grundstrom, 15 games, Jan. 19 – Feb. 26 (lower-body)
F Gabriel Vilardi, 14 games, Nov. 27 (lower-body); Jan. 19 – Feb. 13 (undisclosed); Mar. 28 – Pres. (upper-body)
F Kevin Fiala, 10 games, Mar. 11 – Mar. 25 (lower-body), Mar. 30 (lower-body), Apr. 2 – Pres. (lower-body)
D Sean Durzi, 9 games, Nov. 19 – Nov. 22. (lower-body); Mar. 9 – Mar. 25 (lower-body)
F Quinton Byfield, 6 games, Oct. 27 – Nov. 5 (illness)
D Mikey Anderson, 4 games, Apr. 1 – Pres.
F Viktor Arvidsson, 3 games, Oct. 13 (illness); Oct. 25 (illness); Jan. 11 (illness)
D Alex Edler, 2 games, Apr. 4 – Pres. (upper-body)
D Drew Doughty, 1 game, Dec. 11 (lower-body)
2022-23 Total Regular-Season Man-Games Lost: 146
RECENT TRANSACTIONS (as of 4/7/23)
Mar. 20 – Rights to Cole Krygier (D) acquired from Florida in exchange for future considerations.
Mar. 25 – Cole Krygier (D) signed to a two-year entry-level contract with an AAV of $837,500.
Mar. 28 – Jordan Spence (D) loaned to Ontario (AHL).
Mar. 31 – Tobias Bjornfot (D) recalled on emergency basis from Ontario (AHL).
Apr. 5 – Jordan Spence (D) recalled on emergency basis from Ontario (AHL).
LA KINGS TEAM NOTES:
BEST IN THE WEST AT HOME
In 39 games at Crypto.com Arena this season, the Kings have established a record of 25-10-4 with 54 points for a points percentage of .692%, topping all Western Conference teams and placing fifth in the league overall:
Best 2022-23 home points percentage
Team GP PTS% (record)
Boston Bruins 39 .859% (32-4-3)
Tampa Bay Lightning 39 .756% (27-7-5)
Toronto Maple Leafs 40 .725% (26-8-6)
Carolina Hurricanes 40 .713% (27-10-3)
LA Kings 39 .692% (25-10-4)
No team has been better at home since the resumption of the regular-season following the NHL All-Star break (Feb. 4 – Feb. 6) than the Kings, who have a 11-1-2 record and .857% points percentage. With 25 wins at Crypto.com Arena on the year, the Kings sit one win away from tying the franchise record for most home wins in a single season set three times: 26 wins in 1990-91, 2005-06 and 2015-16. Should the regular-season end today, the team’s .692 home points percentage would be the fourth-best in franchise history:
Best Kings seasons at home (based on PTS%)
Season PTS% (record)
2012-13 .813% (19-4-1)
1990-91 .713% (26-9-5)
2014-15 .695% (25-9-7)
2022-23 .692% (25-10-4)
1974-75 .688% (22-7-11)
KOPI VS. THE AVS
Captain Anze Kopitar skates into Crypto.com Arena with the second-most points against the Avalanche among active skaters behind Winnipeg’s Blake Wheeler (23-35=58):
Most points vs. Colorado among active skaters
Player GP Points
Blake Wheeler 41 58 (23-35=58)
Anze Kopitar 60 56 (18-38=56)
Patrick Kane 57 54 (20-34=54)
Jonathan Toews 54 53 (24-29=53)
Brent Burns 72 48 (17-31=48)
The last time the Kings and Avalanche met on March 9, Kopitar recorded his 26th career three-assist outing for his 279th multi-point game of his career and 14th against Colorado. Only Marcel Dionne and Luc Robitaille have more multi-point games vs. the Avalanche than Kopitar:
