Kings shut down Avalanche
The official game recap Los Angeles Kings vs Colorado Avalanche.Alec Martinez scored the go-ahead goal midway through the second period and the Los Angeles Kings limited the Colorado Avalanche to 10 shots on goal in a 3-1 victory at Staples Center on Saturday.
The Kings (39-25-14) retained the second wild into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Los Angeles is tied with the Winnipeg Jets with 92 points but has the first tiebreaker with four more regulation/overtime wins.
The Avalanche (36-31-12) were eliminated from playoff contention before the game when Winnipeg defeated the Vancouver Canucks.
Martinez broke a 1-1 tie at 10;09 of the second when he scored on a shot from the right circle that went in and out of the net so fast that Martinez briefly celebrated before he shot the puck into the net again. Jeff Carter threw the puck on net and it bounced out to a pinching Martinez, who scored his first goal since Jan. 17. He missed 19 games during that span with a concussion.
Marian Gaborik scored an insurance goal on a wrist shot that beat Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov from the top of the left circle with 1:56 left in regulation.
Carter has 10 goals and 14 assists in his past 17 games. Gaborik has nine goals and four assists in his past 15 games.
Kings goalie Jonathan Quick made nine saves, allowing only a goal by Ryan O'Reilly 1:12 into the second period. The 10 shots allowed equaled the Kings' franchise record for fewest by an opponent and matched the fewest by any team in a game this season: The Buffalo Sabres twice had 10 shots in a game, in a 4-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 28 and in a 3-2 loss to the New York Islanders on Feb. 8.
The Kings outshot the Avalanche 19-7 through 40 minutes after Colorado put two shots on goal in the final seconds of the second period.
Dwight King scored in the first period when he put in Carter's rebound at 13:56. O'Reilly tied it 72 seconds into the middle period when he knocked in a loose puck after Quick could not glove Gabriel Landeskog's shot.
There was only one penalty called; Kings forward Justin Williams was whistled for slashing 4:31 into the game.
The Kings won their 24th home game, two shy of the franchise single-season record.
-- by Curtis Zupke for NHL.com --
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
05/04/2015 - 07:00
