With 15 goals in four games, the Avalanche offense has come back to life.
They even scored a power-play goal Monday in a 5-2 win against Arizona, ending an 0-for-32 drought that lasted 11 games.
Of course, facing Los Angeles' Jonathan Quick -- assuming he starts Wednesday at the Pepsi Center -- and the defending Stanley Cup champion Kings promises be a lot more difficult than it was against journeyman goalie Mike McKenna and the Coyotes.
"This is going to be a good test for our team," said coach Patrick Roy, who gave the Avalanche the day off Tuesday. "I'm pretty excited about that game. I'm anxious about that game as well. I can't wait to play that game and see how our team is going to respond."
Still, it's encouraging.
"Our offense is rolling now a little bit better," said Matt Duchene, who had a goal and an assist, and collected his 300th NHL point. "I think everybody enjoyed that one, everybody played outstanding. The important thing is to win and we just have to keep going."
The Max Talbot-Duchene-Jarome Iginla line accounted for a goal and four assists, the Gabriel Landeskog-Ryan O'Reilly-Nathan MacKinnon line had a goal and two assists, and the Cody McLeod-Marc-Andre Cliche-Paul Carey line had a goal and an assist.
Defensemen Tyson Barrie and Nick Holden scored goals, Zach Redmond had two assists and Jan Hejda one assist.
"You're trying to find that balance and in the last couple games we've had that between the intensity, the work, and being able to have that confidence to make plays too," said Iginla, who has two goals and five assists in a four-game points streak.
(I'll have an Iginla feature story on NHL.com Wednesday.)
The Avalanche set a franchise record by holding the Coyotes without a shot on goal in the second period and limited them to a season-low 17 shots.
"We felt like because we were so good offensively, it led to a good defense there," Duchene said. "I think we played the whole period in their end. Our fourth line went out there and they drew two penalties. They did a great job especially in that second period to hem them in and our goalies were there when we needed them."
Ah, the goalies. Roy replaced Semyon Varlamov, who has started 13 consecutive games and 21 of the past 22, with Reto Berra to begin the third period. The Avalanche outshot the Coyotes 27-5 through two periods in building a 5-1 lead.
Berra, who hadn't played an NHL game since a relief appearance Dec. 5 in Winnipeg -- he played five games with Lake Erie on a conditioning stint in January -- gave up a goal to Mark Arcobello on the second shot he faced but finished with 11 saves.
"It was good to give him a bit of a rest," Roy said of Varlamov, who will start against the Kings. "He's playing a lot of games."
McLeod (2:54 of the first period) and Duchene (3:03) tied a franchise record for the fastest time between goals when they scored nine seconds apart, and Holden scored a power-play goal at 14:58.
"Going forward we need to have our power play going to make a good run and get back to the playoffs," said Holden, who scored the Avalanche's previous power-play goal Jan. 15 at Florida. "It's something that we've been working at. It's something we're going to need. To get our playoff push going we need to get the power play going. It's nice to get that first one out of the way.
"Scoring's been tough for us all year. At this point in the season where we need to win games it's nice to have a game like that. It gets your confidence going and hopefully it keeps rolling from here on out." McLeod picked up his 100th career point and Carey his first NHL point with an assist. Iginla moved into sole possession of 45th place on the all-time list with 1,207 points, two behind Bernie Nicholls ... Duchene has two goals and four assists in a four-game streak ... Landeskog has a goal in three consecutive games.