Kings overmatched in 9-3 loss to Avalanche
Nathan MacKinnon had three goals and two assists, Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored twice in a dominant first period and the Colorado Avalanche set a franchise record with their 53rd win by routing the Los Angeles Kings 9-3 on Wednesday night.
Valeri Nichushkin added two goals, Cale Makar had a goal and three assists, Andre Burakovsky also scored and Darcy Kuemper made 29 saves for the Avalanche, who led 4-0 before the game was 11 minutes old.
Colorado won its seventh straight and improved to 53-14-6, besting the 2013-14 and 2000-01 teams for most victories. The Avalanche also moved two points ahead of Florida for the best record in the NHL and are a franchise-best 29-4-3 at home.
Adrian Kempe, Alex Iafallo and Phillip Danault scored for the Kings, who have dropped four of five. Jonathan Quick allowed three goals on 10 shots before he was pulled while starting on consecutive nights for the first time in over four years. Cal Peterson allowed six more goals on 25 shots.
LA remained in a playoff spot in third place in the Pacific Division, but sits only three points ahead of Vegas, which has two games in hand.
The schedule did the Kings no favors. They won in Chicago 5-2 on Tuesday night and got into Denver early Wednesday to play at altitude while the Avalanche had been off since Saturday.
And Colorado opened with relentless pressure and crisp passing that overwhelmed weary LA. Aube-Kubel scored 2:54 in and Nichushkin tallied 39 seconds later. MacKinnon scored on the power play and Aube-Kubel scored 41 seconds after that to make it 4-0 with 9:04 left in the first period.
Kempe scored his 33rd goal early in the second and and Iafallo made it 4-2 with a slap shot just inside the blue line at 10:40 of the second. But the Avs steadied things when MacKinnon fed Burakovsky in the high slot at 13:05.
MacKinnon scored on a breakaway on a stretch pass from Makar early in the third period and picked up his third career hat trick with 10:08 left to make it 9-2.
Fans chanted "We want 10!" over the final minutes, but had to settle for a Colorado season-high nine goals.
The Kings have lost four out of their last five and are beginning to slip with only six games remaining in the regular season. They will face the Columbia Blue Jackets on Saturday before taking on their Southern California rivals, the Anaheim Ducks, on Tuesday at the Honda Center in Anaheim.