DENVER, March 27 (UPI) -- Dan Hinote and defenseman Rob Blake scored in the opening nine minutes and Patrick Roy recorded his fifth shutout of the season Thursday night as the Colorado Avalanche blanked the Los Angeles Kings, 3-0.
Colorado has picked up points in 28 of the last 32 games (21-4-4-3), with most of its offense coming from the top line of Alex Tanguay, Peter Forsberg and Milan Hejduk. At least one member of that unit has recorded a point in 49 of the last 51 games.
Recently, the second line of Joe Sakic, Steven Reinprecht and newcomer Bates Battaglia has started to click. Sakic has 14 points since returning from a broken foot last month, Reinprecht has 18 in his last 20 games and Battaglia has three since being acquired from Carolina at the trade deadline.
In this one, Reinprecht set up Hinote's sixth goal of the season and first in 20 games just 6:34 into the contest. Blake, who won a Norris Trophy with Los Angeles in 1998, netted his 17th less than three minutes later.
Forsberg and Hejduk set up Tanguay's 25th goal just 88 seconds into the second. The trio has accounted for 61 of Colorado's 128 tallies over the last 40 games.
Roy made 26 saves for his second shutout in a week and 66th of his career as the Avalanche remained tied with St. Louis for fourth place in the Western Conference.
