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Kings down Avalanche, keep pace in competitive West

Mar 27, 2011 - 3:36 AM Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Trevor Lewis and Ryan Smyth each tallied a goal and an assist to help the Los Angeles Kings to a 4-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche at Staples Center.

Los Angeles has 92 points and holds the fifth spot in the Western Conference.

Also, the Kings are one point behind Phoenix for fourth place and five points back of San Jose for the Pacific Division lead and third place in the conference.

"The game was good, we got the two points that we wanted to get," said Los Angeles head coach Terry Murray. "I thought we played a good game. I liked our third period. We lost a top player but the attitude was good. We kept the game simple and ended up getting a couple goals and we finished off with the right attitude."

Willie Mitchell and Michal Handzus each scored a goal for the Kings, who have won three straight. Jonathan Quick made 20 stops in the win.

However, the Kings took a big hit in the game as Anze Kopitar broke his right ankle in the game and is expected to miss at least six weeks.

The injury occurred with 4:21 left in the second when he was checked lightly into the boards by defenseman Ryan O'Byrne and fell backwards. He laid on the ice for several minutes and was eventually helped off the ice by two teammates and a trainer and went to the dressing room.

Milan Hejduk scored the lone goal while Peter Budaj stopped 21 shots for the Avalanche, who have dropped two straight after winning their previous two.

"I thought the game was pretty even overall," said Colorado head coach Joe Sacco. "I thought it was a well-played game. I think that their goaltender deserves a lot of credit. He played very well. We had some real good opportunities and he did a good job of smothering second and third opportunities."

Los Angeles took a 1-0 lead with 9:30 to play in the first when a shot from Mitchell at the left point sailed in.

It was a 2-0 game seven minutes later as Dustin Brown skated into the zone down the middle and dumped the puck down to Handzus, who snapped a wrister over Budaj for his 11th goal of the season.

Hejduk scored the only goal of the second period when Paul Stastny dumped a little pass from the left side to the front where Hejduk redirected it in with 1:39 left in the frame.

Smyth, though, re-established the two-goal margin 1:36 into the third when he spun around a defender behind the net then stuffed the puck in from the left side.

A turnover in the neutral zone saw Smyth skate the other way on a 2-on-1 break and from the left side he slid a pass under the stick of the defender over to the right for Lewis, who wristed the puck home with 9:56 to play.

Game Notes

The Kings play in Edmonton on Tuesday...Colorado plays in Anaheim on Monday...The Kings swept the series for the first time since 1989-90 when the Colorado franchise was located in Quebec...Los Angeles went 1-for-3 on the power play while Colorado was 0-for-2.