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Defenseman Brayden McNabb had a goal and two assists, left winger
Kyle Clifford had a goal and an assist and the Kings beat the
Colorado Avalanche 5-2 on Tuesday night.
Center Jeff Carter, right winger Marian Gaborik and defenseman Jake
Muzzin also scored for the Kings, and goaltender Jonathan Quick made
21 saves.
Three of the Kings first four goals came off deflections and showed
the defending champs are gearing up for the playoffs at the right
time.
"It's playoff hockey," Clifford said. "It's not always going to be
pretty, you just have to go to the net and we did that tonight."
Left winger Alex Tanguay and defenseman Tyson Barrie scored for
Colorado, which had its three-game winning streak stopped
With the win, Los Angeles moved into a tie with Calgary for third in
the Pacific Division with 77 points. The Flames hold the tiebreaker
by virtue of more non-shootout wins. The Kings are a point behind
Winnipeg for the final wild-card spot with a game in hand.
"We're in a dogfight," McNabb said after the first three-point game
of his career. "We have to bring it every game. Enjoy this one and
move on to Vancouver."
The Kings have rebounded from a three-game losing streak 10 days ago
to get seven out of a possible eight points in the last four games.
"It seems we're at our best when we're in dire need of a win, and
we're in dire need of 16 more wins," right winger Justin Williams
said.
The loss was a blow to Colorado's waning hopes of making a late
charge to the playoffs. The banged-up Avalanche are seven points
behind the Jets and would have to climb over three teams in their
final 15 games to reach the postseason.
"It stings," Barrie said. "We didn't give ourselves a chance, we
didn't have the first two periods we wanted to have. I thought we
responded well in the third but it was too late."
Colorado pinned its hopes on goalie Calvin Pickard. Pickard was
recalled from the AHL to start for Semyon Varlamov, who left
Sunday's game with a groin injury. Pickard had played well in spot
duty throughout the season, but struggled against Los Angeles.
The Kings took control of this one in the first period. Gaborik
tipped in a shot from the point by McNabb at 7:47 of the first for
his 20th goal of the season, and Carter scored his 23rd on a
give-and-go with center Jordan Nolan to make it 2-0 at 11:58.
Barrie made it 2-1 just 55 seconds later with his 11th goal of the
season. Soon thereafter, McNabb deflected Clifford's shot from the
point past Pickard to give the Kings a 3-1 lead. Reto Berra came on
for Pickard, who allowed three goals on eight shots.
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"I just wanted to change the rhythm of the game," Colorado coach
Patrick Roy said of pulling Pickard. "Sometimes you have to try
things. Every time we called him up he played well for us and
tonight it was just to change the tempo of the game and get
something going for us."
Berra had 20 saves in his second straight relief appearance. He
couldn't keep the Kings close, however. Clifford gave Los Angeles a
three-goal lead when he knocked in Williams' shot at 15:03 of the
second. Williams had two assists.
Tanguay got Colorado within 4-2 with his 18th goal at 8:27 of the
third, but Muzzin answered at 9:56.
"That was the story of the night," Roy said. "We made it a 4-2 game
and they made it 5-2 right away. It shows these guys are there. To
me, the big surprise is how come they're not in the playoff before
the game. They're so good there's no reason for these guys to not be
in the playoff picture right now."
NOTES: Avalanche G Semyon Varlamov was named the NHL's second star
for the week ending Sunday. Varlamov, who started 22 straight games
before sitting Tuesday, was 3-0-0 with a 0.69 goals-against average
and a .981 save percentage. ... Kings D Alec Martinez missed his
14th straight game with concussion-like symptoms. ... Colorado C
Joey Hishon (elbow, neck) was scratched for the second time in three
games. ... The Kings could become the third team in 20 years not to
make the playoffs a year after winning the Stanley Cup. New Jersey
didn't reach the postseason in 1996 and Carolina failed in 2007.
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Kings
continue playoff push with win over Avs
