Kings push winning streak to six

Anderson scores his first career goal in helping L.A. continue its hot play.

Mikey Anderson scored his first career goal, Jonathan Quick made 21 saves, and the Kings defeated the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Monday night at Staples Center for their sixth consecutive win.

Austin Wagner and Alex Iafallo also scored for the Kings (28-35-6), who are on their longest winning streak of the season. They are 8-1-1 in their last 10 home games, including five straight wins.

“I thought that we were doing a lot of things right these last five games and even before that. Everybody’s been ready to play, and that’s a big thing for our team,” Wagner said. “You know, this year hasn’t gone as planned as everybody expected, but at the end of the season here we’re trying to make a push.”

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored and Pavel Francouz made 32 saves for the Avalanche (41-20-8), who could have moved into first place in the Central Division with a victory. Colorado lost for just the second time in its last 12 road games.

Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon did not return to the game after sustaining a lower-body injury in the second period. Coach Jared Bednar did not know the extent of the injury or when it happened.

“He leaves the game, I’m concerned right away,” Bednar said. “I know that he wasn’t good enough to come back in the game tonight, so, yeah, I’d say that is concerning.”

With the Avalanche, who were coming off a win at San

Jose, looking tired in the second game of a back-to-back set, the Kings led 2-0 after the first period. Wagner converted a sharp-angle shot 14 minutes 22 seconds into the period, and Anderson scored when Colorado defenseman Kevin Connauton redirected his shot from the blue line past Francouz.

The goal was Anderson’s first career point in five games. The defenseman is the fifth Kings player 22 years old or younger to score this season, joining Wagner, forward Matt Luff, and centers Blake Lizotte and Gabriel Vilardi.

“It was great. He deserved it,” Wagner said of Anderson’s goal. “He’s played really well for us since he’s been up [from affiliate Ontario], and I’m really happy to see him get that first one. Even though it wasn’t the highlight reel he wanted, it was still a goal.”

The Kings outshot the Avalanche 11-4 in the first, though MacKinnon missed the net on a breakaway midway through the period.

Valeri Nichushkin’s penalty shot was saved by Quick at 12:15 of the second period.

Bellemare got the Avalanche within 2-1 at 2:19 of the third period when his shot took a late bounce and hopped over Quick’s glove, but Iafallo made it 3-1 at 14:35 on a breakaway.

The Kings are 9-2-1 in their last 12. They went 2-0-1 in the three-game season series against Colorado.

The Kings host Ottawa on Wednesday night.