The Los Angeles Kings play host to the Colorado Avalanche this afternoon with a chance to move just two points away from clinching home ice in round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Look Back at the Last Meeting:
The Kings and Avalanche met back in late March in Denver, with the Avs winning in shutout form, 4-0. David Rittich suffered the loss in an overall flat showing from LA.
Key Points Against the Colorado Avalanche:
1. Missing Mackinnon, Makar, and More
With their playoff spot set and no way of moving up or down in the standings, the Colorado Avalanche are resting a boatload of players across their final two games.
Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Ross Colton, Josh Manson, Jonathan Drouin, and Ryan Lindgren all stayed behind in Colorado, allowing them to get some rest down the stretch and heal up from any nagging injuries.
No MacKinnon or Makar specifically is such a relief for the Kings, as both have flat out dominated the Kings over the recent years. For Makar, he has 24 points in 17 career games against LA, including 16 points across a current 10-game point streak. Now, MacKinnon. MacKinnon has faced LA 32 times in his career and has collected 34 points, and while not as crazy as Makar's, he carries his own six-game point streak into today's game.
With the Kings just four points away from clinching home ice, a win today against an extremely shorthanded Avalanche team is needed.
2. Career High Q
Quinton Byfield opened the scoring for the second straight game, his 21st of the season, which officially set a new career high for goals for Byfield.
After a slow start adjusting to returning back to the center position, Quinton Byfield has taken the league by storm over the last few months. It really all started in February, where Byfield led all skaters in assists, with 11. After that, in March, Byfield followed up with eight goals, a mark that ties him for the fifth most in the month. In total since February 1st, Quinton Byfield has 10 goals and 17 assists for 27 points in 29 games as everything is beginning to truly click for QB55.
Let's see if Quinton Byfield can find his way back onto the score sheet and chase down a new career high in points next.
3. Power play Set Up
For the second straight game, the Kings worked with the five-forward setup on the power play once again and struck three times on the man advantage.
That mark is just the second time the power play has connected for three goals in a game, matching the wild 8-7 Ottawa game from way back at the beginning of the season. When looking at what worked best, Jim Hiller mentioned how it gives the Kings a ton of one-timer options, and we saw that with the goals scored.
Let's see if the all-forward setup can continue to build momentum as we get closer to the playoffs.