*Photo from the Morganton News Herald*
January 20, 2022 was a long time coming for Kiefer Sherwood, and he finally found the back of the net again. Sherwood scored, Mikko Rantanen scored, and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Los Angeles Kings with a 4-1 win on Friday night in Los Angeles.
Sherwood's goal to make it 2-0 in the second period marked a milestone for Sherwood, as it was the first goal he scored in NHL action since March 6, 2019, back when he was a rookie with the Anaheim Ducks. The Avalanche as a whole have also been rolling, in the midst of a 5 game win streak, 11 game point streak, and a 16-1-2 record since December 2.
It was Rantanen who kicked off the scoring, with a power play goal 9:43 into the game to put the Avalanche ahead 1-0. In the second period, Sherwood made it 2-0 when he scored unassisted 3:06 into the period. Anze Kopitar got the Kings on the board with a power play goal 8:58 into the second period, making it a 2-1 game after 40 minutes.
Starting off the 3rd period, Nicolas Aube-Kubel picked up his 6th goal of the season for the Avs, making it a 3-1 game thanks to assists from Logan O'Connor and JT Compher. With just 1:35 left in the game, Devon Toews scored his 8th goal of the season to put the game away, with Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon assisting.
Aube-Kubel said of his goal that "I think O'Connor didn't see me at first, and then he was about to clear it, and then he kind of like slowed his motion down. I think that's what I saw from the ice. That's why the pass wasn't like really sharp. I was thinking about my move, but then didn't get time to do my move. I just shot it."
Drawing the start in goal for the Avs was Darcy Kuemper, who had a stellar performance to get the win. Kuemper dazzled the crowd with 40 saves on 41 shots from the Kings, good for a .976 save percentage to get the win, his record bumping up to 18-5-1 in 27 starts this season.
Kuemper said of how the game went that "I thought we did a good job, obviously, of doing what we had to do to defend. You know, we're used to having the puck for long stretches of time, and that wasn't really the case tonight. But we found a way to win in a different style, and that's really important."
On the other side of the ice, Jonathan Quick got the start for the Kings, and was still hit with the loss, despite a lesser shot volume than Kuemper faced. Quick turned aside 23 of the 26 shots on goal he faced from the Avalanche, posting an .885 save percentage. With the loss, Quick's record dropped to 11-10-4 this season.
Despite losing to the Avs, the Kings got a major boost to the lineup. The second overall pick in the 2020 draft, center Quinton Byfield, made his season debut for the Kings, playing in just his 7th career NHL game after playing 6 near the end of last season. Byfield finished the game going 2-5 at the faceoff dot and recording 3 shots on goal in 15:00 of ice time.
Byfield said of his season debut that "I think I was definitely a lot more comfortable. Last year, it was still my first pro year, and it was kind of weird playing with all the people you grew up watching almost, you know, playing against all those guys. Now I just got a feeling I know I can play with them and contribute a little bit."
Up next, the Avalanche head back home to play host to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night, with Kuemper the favorite to get the start in net. The Kings head east to play the New Jersey Devils on Sunday, with Cal Petersen the probable starting goalie.
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