Grubauer notches 4th shutout, Avalanche beat Kings 4-0

DENVER — Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist, Philipp Grubauer stopped 18 shots for his fourth shutout of the season and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 on Friday night.

Nathan MacKinnon also scored for the Avalanche, who held to recent form by continuing to pile up shots without getting many goals. Colorado had a 45-18 edge in shots.

The Avalanche outshot Arizona 46-14 on Wednesday and needed overtime for a 2-1 win.

The Avalanche held their 15th straight opponent to fewer than 30 shots in a game, surpassing the mark set by the Stanley Cup winning team in 2000-01.

Calvin Petersen made a career high 44 saves for the KIngs.

Petersen, activated from the NHL’s COVID-19 list before the game, was sharp in his return. He made 32 saves through the first two periods and had to make several big saves.

Rantanen broke through for Colorado midway through the second period when his shot from the point got through a screen by Gabriel Landeskog and beat Petersen at 9:18. It was his 13th goal of the season, which leads the team.

Los Angeles had two power-play chances in the final nine minutes and nearly scored on the second, but couldn’t cash in. Petersen came off in the final two minutes and MacKinnon scored an empty-net goal at 18:37 to seal it.

ROSTER SHUFFLING

The Kings juggled their lineup before the game, with defenseman Olli Maata entering the NHL COVID-19 protocol list and was placed on the non-roster list. Alex Iafallo was scratched with an illness, but he was not on the COVID-19 list. Defensemen Tobias Bjonfort and Daniel Brickley, forward Lias Andersson and goalie Troy Grosenick were recalled from the taxi squad.

Goalie Matt Villalta was put on the taxi squad and goaltender Jonathan Quick was put on the injured list.

UP NEXT

The teams meet again Sunday afternoon in Denver. The start time was moved up from 6 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. MST due to a snowstorm forecast to drop uo to 2 feet in the metro area.


More AP NHL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL