Kings starting to look more like themselves, beat Colorado for second straight win

Two games can’t totally erase the shortcomings, the lack of chemistry and spark by the Kings in the first three games of this season.

It will take time during an 82-game season, but they’ve taken small steps and some of the necessary corrective measures. And it’s paid off in the last three days with back-to-back wins, including Sunday’s 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche at Staples Center on goals from Marian Gaborik and Tyler Toffoli.

“Back to normal L.A. Kings hockey and it’s working for us,” said Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin.

Muzzin said the Kings were simply “trying to do too much” in the first three games and “scaled it down a little bit.”

Simple apparently is better.

That’s the big picture. In another sense, they’ve flipped the keys over to budding star Toffoli and goalie Jonathan Quick. With the Avalanche pressing early, Quick kept the Kings in it until they found their range.

Or as Muzzin called him: “JQ.”

“It’s good,” Toffoli said. “It’s a lot better the way that we’re playing. We feel a lot more comfortable and, like I said, we’ve got a lot more work. It’s early in the year.

“We weren’t panicking when we didn’t win the first three. And we’re not going to blow our heads here and get all excited about winning two straight. We’ve got to win a lot more than two games to make the playoffs.”

Quick faced 23 shots and allowed only a power-play goal to wide-open Avalanche center Matt Duchene in the second period after Carl Soderberg threaded a pass through the crease just past the stick of Kings defenseman Brayden McNabb.

Duchene’s goal tied it, 1-1, at 15:57. But a mere 23 seconds after the goal, Toffoli energized his teammates and the crowd with a standout effort, putting on a burst of speed and scoring on a breakaway, beating Colorado goalie Reto Berra. The play started in his own zone and Toffoli had looked to check the position of Avalanche defenseman Francois Beauchemin.

“I just took a peek to see where Beauchemin, where he was, to see what kind of move I could make and I made the right one,” Toffoli said.

The Kings have scored six times in five games. Toffoli’s three goals have come in a variety of fashions, one short-handed, one on the power play and the breakaway on even strength against the Avalanche. Gaborik’s goal, at 13:38 of the first period, was his first point in five games.

Toffoli has the only Kings’ power-play goal in five games, and they were 0 for 4 with the man advantage Sunday.

“We’re getting there,” Toffoli said. “I don’t think we’re all the way there but it’s a good sign. We’re winning games but we know we have some work to do and we can still get lot better.”

That would be in the department of taking ill-advised penalties. The Kings, holding a one-goal lead, were forced to kill off 49 seconds of five-on-three action in the third. Following that, they had to kill off yet another power play when center Nick Shore took an interference penalty with 5:20 remaining.

“When there’s that many penalties, we’ve got to be good,” McNabb said. “The one [goal], we’ve got to be sharper on that and better than that and take that puck away.”

Muzzin blocked a shot during the five on three and looked to be in pain on the bench. Naturally, he was back on the ice shortly thereafter.

“Luckily, my knee brace blocked it for me a little bit. It hurt. It was a little bit of a stinger,” Muzzin said.

Said Kings Coach Darryl Sutter: “It’s a man’s game out there. It wouldn’t have been for the faint of heart, that’s for sure.”

Follow Lisa Dillman on Twitter @reallisa