*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
The Colorado Avalanche just keep setting records. Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored two goals, Nathan MacKinnon rattled off a hat trick, and the Avalanche routed the Los Angeles Kings with a convincing 9-3 win on Wednesday night in Denver.
With the hat trick and two assists, MacKinnon tied his single game point record of 5 points. The Avalanche picked up their 53rd win of the season and 29th at home, setting team records for wins in a season and home wins. The Avalanche resumed their lead in the entire NHL for the presidents trophy, with 112 points.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said that "I loved our first period. We were the aggressors, we were on our toes, our forecheck was rolling. O-zone play, we were seeing what we talked about this morning, and what we wanted to do on the defending side of it, we were tight."
The Avalanche came out rolling in the first period, with Aube-Kubel scoring 2:54 into the game to make it 1-0 early. 37 seconds later, Valeri Nichushkin scored to double the lead, making it 2-0 early on. MacKinnon scored on the power play 10:15 into the period, and then Aube-Kubel scored 41 seconds later, making it 4-0 Avalanche after one period.
In the second period, Adrian Kempe got the Kings on the board, scoring his 33rd goal of the season just 1:43 into the second, making it a 4-1 game. Alex Iafallo scored 10:40 into the second, cutting the deficit to 4-2 on his 16th goal of the season. Andre Burakovsky then scored to make it 5-2 Avalanche, followed by a Cale Makar power play goal, making it 6-2 Avalanche after two periods.
MacKinnon started the scoring in the 3rd period, making it a 7-2 game on his second goal of the night and his 28th of the season. Nichushkin scored his second goal of the night 6:11 into the 3rd, making the lead 8-2. MacKinnon capped his hat trick to make it a 9-2 game, followed by a Phillip Danault goal to make it 9-3 Avalanche.
After the game, Aube-Kubel said that "I thought with our first period, we came so strong. Maybe we slacked for like five minutes in the second period, and that's where they got their momentum, got their first goal and second goal. But from there I think we just took control of the game."
Getting the start in goal was Colorado's Darcy Kuemper, who turned in a solid game to get the win. Kuemper stopped 29 of the 32 shots that the Kings had, recording a .906 save percentage. With the win, Kuemper's record increases to 35-9-3 on the season.
It was Jonathan Quick who got the start for the Kings, and he got hit quickly. He was pulled after allowing 3 goals on 10 shots in the first period, with Cal Petersen entering the game. Petersen got the loss, saving 19 out of the 25 shots he faced, with his record dropping to 20-14-1 on the season, totaling 34 starts.
Kings captain Anze Kopitar said that it was "Definitely not the performance you want tonight, especially at this time of year. But we've got to look at this one and correct stuff and make sure this is not going to repeat, because it is crunch time for our team."
Up next, the Avalanche finish a back to back on Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils, with Pavel Francouz getting the start. Petersen is expected to start for the Kings when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night.
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