Brandon Saad scored three minutes into the game and the Colorado Avalanche held on for a 3-2 road victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.

Devon Toews and Mikko Rantanen added power-play goals two minutes apart in the second period, giving the Avalanche six second-period goals in their last two games. Philipp Grubauer made 23 saves as Colorado earned its second consecutive victory.

Andreas Athanasiou prevented the shutout, scoring for Los Angeles with 12:10 remaining. He has a goal in each of the Kings' three games, all defeats. Adrian Kempe added his first of the season for Los Angeles with 5:38 to play on a power play.

Colorado's opening goal, officially at 3:07 of the first period, came after Kings goaltender Calvin Petersen saved a Matt Calvert shot but could not control the puck. An opportunistic Saad flipped the loose puck across the line for his first Avalanche goal. The longtime Chicago Blackhawks forward was traded to Colorado in October.

With the Avalanche on a second-period power play, Toews took a backward pass from Samuel Girard and fired a shot from the slot just inside the left post for his second of the season at 14:11.

Rantanen added his second of the season from the right circle for a 3-0 lead at 16:06 of the middle period after a cross-ice pass from Nathan MacKinnon. The power-play tally resulted in MacKinnon's second assist of the night.

The Avalanche appeared to score early in the second period as the puck went into the Kings' goal following a scramble of players out front. However, it was ruled no goal on replay because Rantanen forced Petersen into the net.

Petersen made 21 saves in his first appearance of the season with regular Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick getting the night off. Petersen was activated over the weekend after clearing COVID-19 protocols.

Before the game, the Avalanche traded defenseman Ian Cole to the Minnesota Wild for defenseman Greg Pateryn. The Wild were in Southern California for a back-to-back with the Anaheim Ducks, but Pateryn was not available for Colorado on Tuesday.

The teams will play in Los Angeles again Thursday.

--Field Level Media