The Colorado Avalanche got out of Los Angeles’ Staples Center on Saturday night with a massive two points thanks to Right Winger Joonas Donskoi.
With 65 minutes unable to separate the two teams, Donskoi was the third penalty shooter for the Av’s with no scorers before him for either side. The former San Jose Shark forward, signed by Colorado in the summer as an Unrestricted Free Agent, would have been familiar to the chorus of boo’s coming from the hostile Staples Center crowd, but didn’t let it faze him as he out-smarted Jonathan Quick in the Los Angeles Kings net to silence the home crowd and empty the Avalanche bench in celebration.
The Av’s had to come from behind as Austin Wagner put the Kings into an early lead when Nikita Zadorov’s hook on him was deemed to be worthy of a penalty shot. With 4:47 gone in the first, Wagner beat Pavel Francouz on his glove side to continue the party like atmosphere inside the Staples Center.
They even had rapper Snoop Dogg as pregame DJ to get the mood set. With the Kings current standing in the Western Conference it’s hard to fathom what they were celebrating, but despite the poor weather, including Thunderstorms earlier in the day, the Kings fans were out in good numbers and even better voice.
The Avalanche peppered the Kings goal from the start without being able to beat goaltender Jonathan Quick. That was until up stepped plus minus league leader Ryan Graves with 16:35 gone in the second. Captain Gabriel Landeskog won the puck and entered the offensive zone before laying it off to Graves to rifle home.
The third period and overtime couldn’t separate the teams, although that didn’t stop the Avalanche from trying. So to the shootout we went with Anze Kopitar, Martin Frk and Gabriel Vilardi missing for the Kings and Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog missing for the Avalanche before the Fabulous Finn outsmarted Quick and put the Avalanche one point off Central Division leaders St Louis Blues with a game in hand.
Bring Joe Thornton Back To The Bruins
Colorado have three days off now before hosting the Buffalo Sabres at the Pepsi Center on Wednesday night.
