The Los Angeles Kings spent much of the season waiting for their role players to step up.

The contributions they had been seeking finally came http://www.bearsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-roquan-smith-jersey , putting the Kings on the verge of making the playoffs.

Dustin Brown had a short-handed goal, and Torrey Mitchell and Kyle Clifford also scored to help Los Angeles move back into third place in the Pacific Division with a 3-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night.

Jonathan Quick made 27 saves for the Kings, who are one point ahead of Anaheim and can secure a postseason berth by earning one point from their final two games.

”It’s a big step,” Brown said. ”Things have to go really wrong for us and really good for other teams, but you’re never in until you’re in.”

Alexander Kerfoot had a power-play goal and Jonathan Bernier stopped 22 shots for the Avalanche.

Colorado leads St. Louis by one point for the second Western Conference wild card, but the Blues have a game in hand. The Avalanche host the Blues on Saturday in the final game of the regular season for both.

”We have a young team, but there are still no excuses,” Colorado defenseman Nikita Zadorov said. ”We know we should be in the playoffs. We are a good team and we’ve worked hard all season. We’ve got to get creative.”

The Kings played more than 56 minutes with just five defensemen after Derek Forbort was injured when he was checked into the boards by Gabriel Bourque. Alec Martinez played a career-high 32:11 Josh Jackson Color Rush Jersey , one of four Kings defensemen to play at least 20 minutes.

”You ask big minutes out of those guys, to dig in and play with different partners, possibly play the wrong side and different matchups than you’re accustomed to,” Kings coach John Stevens said. ”I thought that effort on the back end in terms of how far they dug in and how hard they competed was excellent.”

Stevens could not update the condition of Forbort, who left the dressing room on crutches and unable to put any weight on his right leg.

While their defensive depth was pushed to the limits, the Kings got some much-needed offense from their bottom two lines.

Los Angeles took a 1-0 lead at 9:29 of the first period thanks to an opportunistic goal by Mitchell. Bernier was caught by surprise when Nate Thompson’s shot hit the boards and bounced into the crease, jumping into the air to avoid sending it back into his own net. Mitchell charged in to score his sixth of the season.

Brown made it 2-0 at 12:32, scoring his 24th on a wrist shot from the edge of the left circle.

Clifford scored on a wraparound two minutes into the third period to restore a two-goal lead for the Kings after Kerfoot cut the deficit to 2-1 at 4:33 of the second http://www.49ersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-jonathan-cooper-jersey , going top shelf over Quick’s glove for his second goal in two games.

Clifford ended a run of 12 games without a goal. Mitchell hadn’t scored since Feb. 20.

”You see what guys are willing to do this time of year and emotionally invest in a game,” Stevens said. ”I thought everybody was willing to dig in when the game mattered. We all know the enormity of this game for both teams, and we knew it was going to take a second and third effort on a lot of plays to get it done.”

NOTES: The Kings swept the season series against the Avalanche, limiting them to one goal in each of the three games. … Avalanche forward Colin Wilson had an assist after missing the previous five games with a lower-body injury.

UP NEXT

Avalanche: Visit the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.

Kings: Host the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.

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In the two-week run-up to the Super Bowl, the New England Patriots will face plenty of questions about two things critical to the team’s success: Tom Brady’s right hand and Rob Gronkowski’s head.

Brady answered most of the concerns about whether the hand injury would hinder him with a strong performance in New England’s AFC championship game victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Gronkowski, meanwhile, will likely spend at least part of this week going through the concussion protocol. He suffered the injury on a helmet-to-helmet hit from Jacksonville safety Barry Church.

The game-changing tight end is Brady’s favorite target, and he missed last season’s Super Bowl run after undergoing season-ending back surgery.

There was no update from the Patriots on Gronk’s status Monday http://www.eaglesauthorizedshops.com/authentic-markus-wheaton-jersey , but he was at the facility for team meetings.

”He was in pretty good spirits today when I spoke to him,” special teams captain Matt Slater said.

Recently, New England has fared well when Gronkowski has been sidelined. But that hasn’t always been the case.

The Patriots had plenty of time to adjust to his absence in 2016, when he played just eight games before the surgery. They also had Martellus Bennett to pick up the slack.

Since the start of last season, New England is 12-1 without Gronk. In those games, the Patriots’ points per game actually increased from 28.6 to 28.8, although their yards per play declined from 8.1 to 7.6.

The offense was also better without him on third down and in the red zone. Over the past two seasons it converted on 49.3 percent of its chances on third down and scored touchdowns on 66 percent of its red zone trips without him, compared to 45 percent on third down and scoring touchdowns on 62.6 percent of red zone trips when he played.

From his rookie season in 2010 through 2015 http://www.49ersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-cassius-marsh-jersey , his absence had a much greater impact.

The Patriots were 12-7 without Gronkowski over that span, averaging 31.5 points per game with him and 26.3 without him. The offense’s average yards per pass attempt also fell from 7.8 with him to 6.6 without him.

Before he was injured, Gronkowski passed Dallas Clark to become the NFL’s career leader for postseason yards at the position. And if the concussion were to sideline him for the Super Bowl, there’s not much depth behind him. The only tight ends on New England’s roster are Dwayne Allen and Jacob Hollister.

Allen has 10 receptions for 86 yards and a touchdown this season. Hollister has four catches for 42 yards and was inactive against Jacksonville.

Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said there is always a plan to adapt to injuries.

”You have to make some adjustments. We always go into the game with a certain idea of how we want to try to play it,” he said. ”It certainly doesn’t always play out the way that you wanted it to or that you had hoped to or designed it to, but that happens in every game.

”So, everybody understands that that’s part of the game and when that happens, you just have to embrace whatever role you need to take on to help the team win.”

Brady still has stitches in his right thumb. He hopes to have them removed sometime this week http://www.broncosauthorizedshops.com/authentic-su_a-cravens-jersey , and he doesn’t expect the injury to be an issue once Super Bowl week arrives.

”And then I can just get out there and get normal treatment like I always do and be ready to go,” Brady said.

”This was a little injury at the end of the day. … I mean, I’ve had a lot worse injuries than this. If this was on my left hand, I could care less, but just based on where it was, we had to deal with it.”

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