DENVER (AP) - Dustin Brown got the jump on a Colorado line change ahead of his game-winning shot.
Brown scored on a breakaway 56 seconds into overtime and the Los Angeles Kings withstood a late comeback attempt by Colorado and beat the Avalanche 3-2 on Monday night.
“The puck got kicked into our zone,” Brown said. “They were trying to get a change. I was coming out of the blue-line door - so that’s 30 or 40 feet for them to change, and I got in behind them.”
Brown gathered in a pass from Jake Muzzin in the Avalanche zone and skated between the circles before sending a wrist shot past the stick of goalie Semyon Varlamov for the winner.
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said Brown beat Colorado skaters into their zone.
“You can’t hide in 3-on-3, so Mikko (Rantanen) changes and their guy is behind him,” Bednar said. “And then we were late coming on and it’s in the back of our net. You can’t let guys get in behind you 3-on-3 or they’re going to score. That’s it.”
Sean Walker and Drew Doughty also scored for the Kings. Jonathan Quick had 22 saves and earned his 299th career win. He has 17 wins in 24 career games against the Avalanche.
Nathan MacKinnon and Carl Soderberg scored for Colorado, which lost its fifth straight.
With an extra attacker on the ice in place of their goalie, the Avalanche evened the score at 2-2 at 18:40 of the third period on a goal by Soderberg. Tyson Barrie’s shot from the point went off Soderberg’s skate and into the net past Quick. The outcome for Colorado mirrored its overtime loss Saturday to Chicago.
“It’s unfortunate because it’s so quick - bang, bang - in overtime,” Erik Johnson said after Colorado fell to 1-8 in overtime games this season. “We clawed our way back so hard, it’s tough to swallow. It was looking like we weren’t going to come up with anything, so we need those two points. We’ll take the single one right now, but it certainly stinks not to get that extra one.”
Trailing 2-0, the Avalanche cut the deficit in half when MacKinnon finished a 2-on-1 break with a shot from in front that beat Quick. Rantanen set him up with a cross-ice pass that allowed MacKinnon to flick the puck over Quick’s glove.
Walker, who had an apparent first-period goal negated by a goalie interference call, extended the Kings’ lead with a wraparound shot that got past Varlamov at 12:58 of the second period. It was the first NHL goal for Walker, who got the inside edge on Rantanen and stuffed the puck into the net through a narrow opening before Varlamov could get to the side and close it.
“It was a roller coaster,” Walker said. “Pretty high and then pretty low. And then luckily, I got the other one. You want to get your first one out of the way.”
With the Kings on the power play, Doughty opened the scoring with a slap shot from the top of the right circle 22 seconds into the second period. Doughty scored off a feed from Tyler Toffoli.
NOTES: At 5:40 of the first, the Kings had an apparent goal by Walker negated by goalie interference. Matt Luff was called for the infraction as he backed into goalie Semyon Varlamov at the same time Walker took his shot. … Colorado’s Tyson Barrie is one shy of tying John-Michael Liles (275) for most points by a defenseman in Avalanche franchise history. … The Kings have assigned F Michael Amadio to Ontario of the American Hockey League.
UP NEXT
Kings: Complete back-to-back set at Las Vegas on Tuesday.
Avalanche: Host the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.
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