Depleted Avalanche drops second straight, falls to Kings in penultimate regular-season game

LOS ANGELES — The Colorado Avalanche cruised past the Los Angeles Kings two weeks ago and was one of the hottest teams in the NHL.

A lot has changed since then, but parsing out how much concern to have about the recent middling performances is not easy.

A team that did not look very much like the one that defeated the Kings by four goals March 27 at Ball Arena lost to Los Angeles, 5-4, on Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena. It was Colorado’s second loss in a row and its fifth in eight games.

The Avalanche did not have stars Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Devon Toews, who are resting this weekend and did not travel with the team. Colorado was also without Jonathan Drouin, Ross Colton, Josh Manson and Ryan Lindgren because of injuries. Miles Wood did not play Saturday because of an illness.

That is $44.6 million against the club’s salary cap that was not available, and that doesn’t include captain Gabe Landeskog ($7 million). The Avs will likely have a similar lineup Sunday evening for the final game of the regular season against the Anaheim Ducks.

Quinton Byfield had three points, and Kevin Fiala scored twice for the Kings, who built a 2-0 lead with goals on their first two shots of the game.

There were a few bright spots for the Avalanche. Brock Nelson scored his 300th career goal to get Colorado on the board and added No. 301 late in the third period.

Nelson now has five goals and 12 points in 18 games since arriving from the Islanders in a trade just before the NHL deadline. He scored on a cross-crease pass from fellow trade addition Charlie Coyle with the Avs on the power play at 10:39 of the first period.

Coyle has been the hottest Colorado player in April. He had just two points in his first 13 games with the Avs after the trade with the Bruins, but he now has eight in the past five contests.

Valeri Nichushkin has been the club’s most consistent goal scorer when available this season, and he evened the score early in the second. Artturi Lehkonen found Nichushkin with a great pass as he cut toward the left post for his 21st goal in 43 games, just 2:13 in.

Alex Laferriere and Anze Kopitar restored the Kings’ two-goal advantage before the end of the middle period.

Sam Malinski scored his fifth goal of the season midway through the third period. It was a wicked wrist shot from the right circle after a pass from Nichushkin to get Colorado back within a goal.

Among the reinforcements recalled from the Colorado Eagles, defenseman Wyatt Aamodt made his NHL debut for the Avs. Aamodt, 27, was an undrafted free agent out of Minnesota State-Mankato. Has played 181 regular-season games and 18 playoff games for the Eagles since joining them in 2021-22.

His defense partner, Jack Ahcan, made his Avalanche debut. Ahcan, also 27, has spent the past two seasons with the Eagles. He played nine games for the Bruins across two seasons. Jere Innala, who played 15 games for the Avalanche earlier this season, also returned for his first NHL contest since Jan. 22.

The Avs have now used 49 players this season, which ties for most in the NHL in the past 10 seasons and the franchise record, set by the Quebec Nordiques in 1989-90 and 1990-91.

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