• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Surging Kings take on fading Avalanche

Feb 26, 2011 - 3:21 PM (Sports Network) - The surging Los Angeles Kings will try to take advantage of a free-falling Avalanche club when they host Colorado this afternoon at the Staples Center.

The Kings are in the thick of the Pacific Division and Western Conference playoff races thanks to an excellent 10-1-3 record over their last 14 games. Los Angeles enters today's action with 72 points, good enough to be tied with Minnesota for the fifth spot in the West while also putting the club six back of first-place San Jose in the division.

Colorado, meanwhile, has nearly played itself out of playoff contention by losing 11 of its last 12 games. The drought, which includes a 10-game skid that ended Tuesday night in St. Louis, has dropped the Avalanche to 14th in the conference with 59 points on the year.

Los Angeles has won both meetings with the Avs this season and has taken three straight and six of seven overall in the series. Colorado has lost two in a row in the City of Angels, but today's tilt marks the first encounter between the clubs in LA this season.

The Kings recorded a second straight win on Thursday, defeating the visiting Minnesota Wild, 4-2. Drew Doughty scored the game-winner early in the third period and Anze Kopitar sealed the victory with an empty-net tally.

Wayne Simmonds tallied a pair of goals for the Kings, who also got 25 saves from Jonathan Bernier.

"We know that this is a critical time now in the schedule for us," Kings head coach Terry Murray said. "We've got some home games, we're in a tight race to get into the playoffs, and the opportunity is there for us. We can control our own destiny."

The Kings were playing their first home game after logging a 6-1-3 record on a 10-game road trip. Thursday's tilt kicked off a six-game homestand for LA, which is 18-9-1 as the host this season.

The Avalanche ended their 10-game losing streak with Tuesday's 4-3 road win over St. Louis, but Colorado followed that win with a poor home performance the following night. Edmonton rolled into Denver on Wednesday and left with a 5-1 victory over the Avs.

Milan Hejduk scored the lone goal for the Avalanche, who fell to 2-12-1 in their last 15 contests. Colorado also allowed at least three goals for the 16th straight game.

"I felt we got the monkey off our back [Tuesday] night," said Hejduk. "We started good, we just could not bury one. Their power play was really good tonight."

Brian Elliott allowed all five goals on 31 shots in what was a less than stellar debut for his new club. Elliott came to Colorado in the deal that sent goaltender Craig Anderson to Ottawa last week.

Despite the rough outing Elliott is expected to get the start again today.

Colorado also added another player to the ranks of the injured on Wednesday, as defenseman Ryan O'Byrne got cut in the face by a skate and is expected to miss 7-to-10 days. O'Byrne suffered facial lacerations less than five minutes into the first period when Edmonton rookie Taylor Hall's skate blade accidentally cut him behind the Colorado bench.

The Avs ended a five-game road slide with Tuesday's win over the Blues and will try to carry over that momentum into the three-game road trip that begins today. Colorado is just 12-13-3 as the road club this season.