A battle with royal enemies

Los Angeles Kings (9-5-3) @ Colorado Avalanche (8-8-0)

8pm MT | ball arena | Watch: TNT, TruTV, MAX | Listen: Altitude Sports Radio (92.5 FM)

The Avalanche enter Wednesday's game against Los Angeles on a three-game home winning streak. This is the first of three meetings between the Kings and Avs as they will play in Denver on March 27th and Los Angeles on April 12th.

Last result (LAK): LAK 1, CGY 3

Last result (COL): NSH 2, COL 3 (OT)

Defeat a division rival

The Avalanche defeated the Nashville Predators in thrilling fashion on Monday with a 3-2 overtime win at Ball Arena. For the second straight game, the Avs entered the second half trailing, but showed their resilience and rallied to win. The Burgundy and Blue evened the score early in the second period when Devon Toews received Samuel Girard's pass at the point and fired a Toewser laser past Predators goaltender Juuse Saros. Mikko Rantanen continued his winning streak, scoring his fifth goal in four games with his signature one-timer in the right circle, finishing off a shot from fellow Finn Joel Kiviranta. Although the game was tied early in the third period, the Predators were unable to score the go-ahead score, thanks in large part to the outstanding play of Avalanche goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, who made 29 saves. Joining Toews on the Avs defense for her first goal of the season, Girard stole the puck from Predators defenseman Brady Skjei and raced down the ice to score a break goal in overtime, putting the Avalanche up 8-8-0 to bring this season.

Avs successes

Art Ross Leader in the clubhouse

Nathan MacKinnon recorded his league-leading 30th point and NHL-best 23rd assist of the season on Monday.

Learn Finnish at a high level

Rantanen's goal on Monday was his team-leading ninth goal of the season. This season he leads all Finnish-born players in goals (9), assists (12) and points (12).

Alexander the Great

In his last three starts, Georgiev is 2-1-0 with a .922 save percentage.

Story

In 110 regular season games against the Kings, the Avalanche had a record of 52-46-12. Additionally, they have defeated the Kings in seven games, both times they met in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: the 2001 Western Conference semifinals and the 2002 Western Conference quarterfinals. The Avs were 2-1-0 last season the Kings and outscored them 11-8.

Falling against the flames

The Kings lost 3-1 to the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday. After a scoreless first period, the Flames took a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Mikael Backlund and Jonathan Huberdeau in the second period. Trevor Moore's goal late in the third cut Los Angeles' deficit to one, but Calgary's Kevin Rooney scored an unanswered goal with 20 seconds left in regulation to seal the game.

King Conqueror

MacKinnon is a career points per game player against the Kings. He scored 31 points (12g/19a) in 31 meets, including six points (2g/4a) in three contests in 2023-24.

After scoring six points (2g/4a) in three games against Los Angeles during the 2023-24 season, Rantanen's point total against Los Angeles is 37 (12g/25a) in 28 contests.

Cale Makar scored three points (2g/1a) in two games against the Kings last season and increased his production against them to 19 points (6g/13a) in 15 games.

Georgiev started all three games against Los Angeles during the 2023-24 season, posting a 2-1-0 record, a .940 save percentage and a 2.02 goals-against average.

Kings in numbers

Anze Kopitar leads the team in assists (13) and points (18).

Alex Laferriere leads the Kings in goals (9) and is second in points (15).

Brandt Clarke leads the Los Angeles Blueliners in points (13), which is fourth overall on the team.

A numbers game

211

Casey Mittelstadt has played in 211 consecutive games, which is the longest active streak among current Avalanche players.

587

With his 587th career assist on Monday, MacKinnon moved to 6th in assists among Canadian-born active players and 12th among all active players, passing Steven Stamkos (586) on both lists.

4.1

Since the start of the 2023-24 season, the Avalanche have led the NHL with 4.1 goals per home game.

30

MacKinnon became the first NHL player to reach 30 points this season.

Quote that left its mark

“These guys had a lot of chances, both individual players. Nice to see both find the end of the net. Gives our team and their individual play a lot of self-confidence.”

– Mikko Rantanen on Devon Toews and Samuel Girard