Central Plains FFA Chapter

03/27 23:49 CDT Necas has 2 goals, Avs beat Kings 4-0 for 4th straight win Necas has 2 goals, Avs beat Kings 4-0 for 4th straight win By MICHAEL KELLY Associated Press DENVER (AP) --- Martin Necas had two goals and an assist, Jonathan Drouin and Logan O'Connor also sored, and the streaking Colorado Avalanche beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-0 on Thursday night for their fourth straight win. Mackenzie Blackwood made 23 saves for his third shutout with Colorado and fourth overall this season. Cale Makar had two assists. O'Connor and Necas scored goals 1:32 apart early in the second, Necas added a power-play goal later in the period, and Drouin had another on a man-advantage in the third. Nathan MacKinnon had the primary assist on Drouin's goal to extend his home point streak to 23 games. David Rittich had 20 saves for Los Angeles, which had its four-game winning streak stopped.

Takeaways Kings: Scored 20 goals during their winning streak, including two games where they had seven, but struggled to generate chances against Colorado. Their best chance came on Jeff Malott's shot on Blackwood midway through the first period. Avalanche: Coach Jared Bednar keeps rotating the bottom six forwards in and out of the lineup to keep them fresh. Thursday night it was Joel Kiviranta and Jimmy Vesey who were healthy scratches and Miles Wood was back after sitting out Tuesday.

Key moment After Colorado took a 2-0 lead, defenseman Devon Toews blocked a shot at an open net as Blackwood was sprawled on the ice. Kings forward Warren Foegele was whistled for goaltender interference when he fell over Blackwood, and Colorado scored on the ensuing power play.

Key stat MacKinnon had a 35-game home streak last season when he finished with 140 points. He leads the NHL in scoring this season with 108 points, three ahead of Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov, who had four points Thursday night.

Up next The Kings head home to face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night while the Avalanche continue their four-game homestand against St. Louis on Saturday afternoon. ___ AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL