EditorsNote: Several tweaks throughout, including clarifying that Colorado was visiting team in 1st graf; fixed spelling of Zadorov in 5th graf
Joonas Donskoi scored the lone goal in a shootout on a night goalie Pavel Francouz needed just 20 saves as the visiting Colorado Avalanche rallied for a 2-1 victory Saturday over the Los Angeles Kings.
Ryan Graves scored a second-period goal as the Avalanche won consecutive games in Southern California. Saturday's victory came a day after a 1-0 victory at the Anaheim Ducks. Colorado is on a three-game winning streak that followed a three-game losing streak.
Austin Wagner scored on a penalty shot in the first period for the Kings, who lost to the Avalanche one week after defeating them in the outdoor Stadium Series at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. The Kings have earned a point in four of their last five games.
One of the highest-scoring teams in the NHL, the Avalanche are without forwards Mikko Rantanen (upper body), Nazem Kadri (lower body) and Matt Calvert (lower body). But they showed off their defense on consecutive nights.
The Kings jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 4:47 of the first period after Colorado's Nikita Zadorov was called for hooking on Wagner as he moved in on Francouz. On his subsequent penalty shot, Wagner moved the puck to his backhand and took a shot to the top left corner of the goal for his fifth of the season.
The Avalanche took charge in the second period as they outshot the Kings 9-3. Graves scored his ninth goal of the season at 16:35 of the second period on a shot from the deep slot. Gabriel Landeskog carried the puck into the Kings' zone and dropped a pass back to Graves for the goal.
One night after recording his first career shutout, Francouz gave yet another opponent fits. The Kings had just 10 shots on goal against the Colorado defense in the first two periods and 21 in the game.
The game came on the same day Kings right wing Martin Frk was signed to a two-year contract extension.
--Field Level Media
