DENVER -- The Colorado Avalanche were trying to jump-start their struggling offense. Two quick goals did the trick against the Los Angeles Kings.

Patrick Wiercioch and Rene Bourque scored goals 22 seconds apart, Semyon Varlamov made 32 saves, and Colorado beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 Tuesday night.

Wiercioch also had an assist, and Blake Comeau scored in his return to the lineup for Colorado. Gabriel Landeskog scored an empty-net goal to seal it.

"Best defense is a good offense, and we had a lot of that going tonight," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said.

Another good game by Varlamov helped, too. He has won two of his past three games after a personal five-game skid, and he made 44 saves in a loss to the Boston Bruins on Sunday. He is 2-1-0 with a 1.33 goals-against average in his past three games.

"We scored some goals, which has been tough for us lately," Varlamov said. "I'm happy about it, and then I think we played real solid as a team for all 60 minutes."

Dustin Brown scored for Los Angeles, and Peter Budaj stopped 26 shots against his former squad. The Kings wrapped up their five-game road trip 1-3-1.

Both teams were playing without key centers. Matt Duchene missed his second consecutive game with concussion-like symptoms, and Anze Kopitar also sat out his second in a row with an upper-body injury.

The Avalanche entered the game struggling on offense. They went 111 minutes, 37 seconds between regulation goals before Wiercioch opened the scoring at 1:10 of the second period. Bourque quickly doubled the advantage.

The Kings were within a goal midway through the third before Comeau gave Colorado a cushion. He skated out from the corner into the slot and fired a puck past Budaj at 11:32.

Los Angeles challenged the goal, claiming goaltender interference, but the play was upheld upon review.

"Hey, I'm challenging every goal," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. "When you're having trouble scoring, if I could have 15 challenges, I'm challenging every one. I don't care. I got that big screen right there in front of me, I'm challenging them all.

"Seriously, we challenged it because the goalie's in the blue paint and he gets bumped a little."

It was Comeau's second goal of the season in his first game back after missing four with a groin injury.

"I felt really good," Comeau said. "I think it was a good decision to get healthy instead of trying to make it through games. I wasn't helping anyone out, so it's nice to feel good and nice to contribute in a win."

Budaj came off for an extra skater with 1:49 left, and Landeskog scored into the empty net 12 seconds later.

"We had opportunities to tie that game up, we hit some posts and we didn't bear down on our chances," Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. "We've got to make our chances count."

The Avalanche ended their scoring drought when Wiercioch skated behind the Los Angeles net and stuffed the puck between Budaj and the post.

Colorado went up 2-0 when Bourque redirected Mikko Rantanen's shot from the point through Budaj's legs for his fifth of the season.

It was the fastest two-goal spurt for Colorado this season.

Moments after Varlamov stopped him on his second great chance, Nic Dowd centered a pass to Brown, who tipped it in at 19:29 of the second to cut Colorado's lead to 2-1.

It was only the second power-play goal in the last 33 chances for Los Angeles.

NOTES: Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said C Matt Duchene, who is out with concussion-like symptoms, could start taking part in contact drills Wednesday if he keeps improving. Duchene was on the ice for Tuesday's morning skate but was ruled out for the game. ... Kings C Anze Kopitar, who missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury, is improving, coach Darryl Sutter said. Kopitar might skate Wednesday after the team returns from its five-game road trip. ... Kings G Jeff Zatkoff, who injured his groin against the Ottawa Senators on Friday, remains out.