Colorado Avalanche at Los Angeles Kings: Gamtime

ByMichael Longhofer|Nov 21, 2018, 6:54 PM EST

Colorado Avalanche (Photo by Debora Robinson/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Colorado Avalanche travel to Los Angeles to take on the struggling Kings. Colorado is 3-1-1 in their last five and are sixth in the West with 24 points.

The Colorado Avalanche are coming off of a nice 4-3 OT win on Sunday in Anaheim. A nice Southern California vacation and it’s back at it tonight against the Kings.

Though the Avs are sixth in the West, they are just two points out of second. The Nashville Predators look to be running away with the Western Conference this season, already off to a 31-point start.

All three of Colorado’s top line scored goals in the game, highlighted byMikko Rantanen‘s blast from between the circles off of a perfect dime fromNathan MacKinnon. Rantanen ended the night with 3 points to extend his league lead over Edmonton’sConnor McDavidand linemate MacKinnon.

Again and again, the MacKinnon line shows us why it’s the best in hockey and it’s not even really close. As long as the trio can stay healthy, they may be on-track to put up historic numbers.

From the defensive side,Philipp Grubauerstopped 30 of 33 for that all important save percentage north of 90% (Grubauer was .909, for the game). The Avs brought the defensive toughness we’ve been waiting to see withNikita ZadorovandErik Johnsondoling out big hits. If not for so many turnovers (sound familiar, Nuggets?), the Avs defense would grade out much higher.

Still, Colorado found a way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and none too soon, as they were 1.5 seconds from heading to a shootout.

On the other side, the once-proud Kings are struggling to find wins, coming in dead last in the Western Conference with 15 points. While it’s early and the Kings are still talented, there has to be concern in La La Land for the play of their beloved hockey team.

Here’s all you need to know about tonight’s game: