Well, the Kings just couldn’t get their offense going in Colorado. Although the final score reads 2-0, it was basically another one goal game between the Kings and Avs (with an added empty net goal at the end). LA even had a power play in the final few minutes of regulation, where they had a chance to tie things up at 1-1. However, they weren’t able to convert — putting LA at 0-for-3 on the PP in the game — and eventually were shutout for the first time this season.
Following the game, coach Todd McLellan shared these thoughts:
On if the tilted ice tonight was because Colorado was doing something well or the Kings were doing something poorly
We have to give Colorado some credit. They played a hell of a game, they’ve done that to a lot of teams lately. Their pace of play with the puck is evident. Their pace of play without the puck, they’re ability to close and take lanes away and force you into mistakes was as good as we’ve seen from a team all year. Our guys, our team to a man, we didn’t play well. We didn’t execute when we did have time. We didn’t make the plays we needed to make. This is a combination of both. Don’t take anything away from how well the Avalanche played.
On if Cal Petersen is at his best when facing a high volume of shots
I don’t know if I can answer that question right now. He has faced some nights where he’s had to make some really good saves and he’s done that. He’s been pretty consistent from the time we called him up last year to this point. He’s been through a lot in the last couple days, he didn’t get the practice time that he would have wanted. For him to pitch that type of game for our group was pretty impressive.
On if today was a challenging day with lineup and roster maneuvering
It’s one of the most challenging ones, yeah. You think about the beginning of the year where we lost Cal [Petersen] and [Sean] Walker and [Kurtis] MacDermid due to contact tracing. We’ve had different scenarios where we’ve had d-men come out because of injuries, forget COVID. Today was a juggling act. Somebody asked me this morning if we’re getting back to normalcy or getting close to it. At that time, I knew what was going on. There’s no reason for us not to perform better, though. It has no impact on the performance of 20 others. We would have liked to have had those two players in the lineup, of course, but the ones that dressed didn’t give each other the game they needed.
On if he can provide any further clarity on what didn’t work well tonight
Who was our top player tonight? It’s hard to pick one – other than the goaltender, that’s pretty obvious. Guys that typically have pretty good nights and can stabilize the team when it’s not going well, they struggled. We didn’t have anybody else to pick them up, so it was team-wide.
On the defense being under pressure all night, and if Mikey Anderson was one of the few who didn’t cave
I wouldn’t say any of them caved. I don’t think that’s a good term at all to use for our group. They were under a lot of pressure. They were stressed to the max. We gave up a lot, but they’re a volume shooting team. They come after you quick. They’re tenacious, they’re always on the go. We didn’t handle them really well. When it comes to Mikey, yeah pretty solid night. Played a lot of minutes against a lot of good players. When the group around you isn’t as good, it can be stressful. It’s the group as a whole, it’s hard to single out individuals for good nights.
On trying to take the speed out of Colorado’s game in two nights
We’ll have to find a way. Right now, this game is still stinging a little bit. We have some thoughts and we’ll go re-watch the game. We’ll look at our lineup, perhaps we’ll get two players back, maybe we won’t. We understand what it feels like to play here again now. It’s hard to come into this building. They’re used to it and took us a while. I thought after the first, maybe we would find our legs, our hands, and our sense of timing in this building. It’s hard to play here. It didn’t get any better. Perhaps this next game will. We’ll look at finding ways to help the guys, that’s what we always do.
More postgame comments:
Petersen Makes Career High in Saves, Falls to Avs 2-0
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