The LA Kings were unable to make it two in a row coming out of the break, as they fell by a 5-2 final in Colorado, despite a good performance on Monday evening at Ball Arena.

Against the flow of play, Colorado opened the scoring just shy of the halfway mark of the first period. The Kings turned the puck over on the breakout, as Drew Doughty and Alex Turcotte were unable to connect, which set the Avalanche up with a chance from the slot. Forward Jack Drury’s shot went off the blocker of goaltender Anton Forsberg and in for his sixth goal of the season as the hosts opened up a 1-0 advantage.

The Kings equalized inside the first five minutes of the second period, as the power play converted for the second straight game. With just seconds remaining on their first man advantage of the evening. Forward Kevin Fiala worked his way in from the left side of the umbrella and used a shot pass towards the net, with forward Corey Perry getting a deflection on the way through the tie the game 1-1.

Colorado capitalized on one of its first sustained shifts in the offensive zone during the second period, restoring the lead for the hosts. Kings defenseman Brian Dumoulin lost his stick, which put them at a disadvantage. Off a whirling shift by the Avalanche, the puck eventually fell to forward Martin Necas at the back post, where he tapped in the goal, his 19th of the season, for a 2-1 advantage.

Late in the second period, the Avalanche doubled their lead through forward Brock Nelson, as they took a two-goal lead through 40 minutes of play. After the Kings were unable to convert on a few looks offensively, Colorado came back the other way and Nelson scored his 15th goal of the season off the rush, top-shelf shot from the right-hand circle, to make it a 3-1 game in favor of Colorado.

Early in the third period, the Kings scored again on special teams to pull back within goal. As he picked up speed from his own zone, forward Joel Armia flew through the neutral zone in transition before a perfectly executed toe drag and shot from the slot beat Colorado goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood for make it 3-2. Armia’s shorthanded goal was his fourth of the season, moving him into sole possession of the NHL lead in that category.

Colorado added an empty-net goal inside the final two minutes of regulation from Nathan MacKinnon and a late goal from defenseman Cale Makar with 45 seconds remaining to bury a pair of insurance goals, bringing the game to a final score of 5-2.

Hear from Armia, forward Adrian Kempe and Head Coach Jim Hiller after tonight’s game.

Joel Armia

Adrian Kempe
On his takeaways from tonight’s game
System wise, forechecking, effort, I think everything was there. I thought we played well. I thought we kept their top guys to minimal chances, I thought we played them really strong. Only scored two, obviously it’s tough to win games, we’re struggling scoring, so it’s obviously frustrating. Everything else, I thought was clicking pretty well tonight.

On if the difference tonight was simply down to Colorado being more opportunistic than the Kings
Yeah, I think so. I think me, I had a breakaway there, Kopi had a couple chances, Perrs had an open net, they blocked, and then they come down the other way and scored on a not as good of a chance. It stings when you miss those opportunities. We’ve got to be better, personally, I’ve got to be better, bear down on our chances. Just in general, I think scoring is the main issue right now.

On the penalty-killing effort tonight being more aggressive
I thought the aggressiveness was there. I thought everybody was back on the same page. We did all that kind of stuff that we’ve been doing in the past and just kind of went back to being a little bit more aggressive than we have been last couple of games. I think that worked out well for us and created momentum for us for sure.

On if he believes the Kings can take positive momentum, despite the loss
If we weren’t playing well, obviously that would have been a bigger issue. Defensively, we’re still doing the right things, checking wise, effort wise, I think we’re still doing the right things. I think that’s the most important thing, that we’re still relying on our identity, all that kind of stuff. Hopefully the goals will start coming. That’s all I can say, but I think everything else was there.

Jim Hiller
On his overall takeaways from tonight’s game
You’re always going to make some mistakes. We made our mistakes, not that many, but they’ve got a team that can finish, they showed us that. Overall, I mean, we’ll take that hockey game in this building night after night and I would expect that we win more than than we’d lose if we did.

On the differences in the game being teams finishing offensive chances
I think the big point was Kempe’s shorthanded breakaway, I think that would have made it 2-2 at that point. That was a big save by their goaltender there. We had a bunch of other looks. Right out of the gate, Kevin hits him in the head. I mean, you come into this building, you don’t want their goalie to be a star, you want your goalie to be a star and you want to be able to find the back of the net. We were +2 on special teams, the effort was excellent. All those types of things, we just don’t like the result.

On if the goals the Kings gave up stung more, being preventable in multiple ways
Yeah, and we didn’t make a lot of mistakes. Against a team like that, you’re going to make mistakes, as I said. Against a team like this, if you make too many, they’re going to score. They don’t need you to make mistakes over and over again, you just can’t do it. It’s just the bottom line, you can’t crawl your way back.

On the performance of the penalty kill tonight
Penalty kill was excellent. They had a couple of good chances, I think, but for the most part, against some really talented players, we did exactly as Smitty and DJ had them in practice, buzzing. Hopefully that can start to build just a little bit of momentum and confidence back in the penalty kill.

On if he believes a game like this can carryover momentum, despite the loss
Well, I think so. Here’s the positive for me. Over the last few games, we look a little bit more like [ourselves], we’re playing a little freer, a little looser, we look more dangerous, we’ve got more speed coming through the neutral zone. There’s lots of things to like from a big picture. In the end, we’ve got to win games. If we can play like this, we’ll win games.

Notes –
– Forward Corey Perry (1-0=1) scored his eighth goal of the campaign to tie tonight’s contest at one goal apiece, marking his third goal in his last two games against the Colorado Avalanche (2-0=2 on Feb. 7, 2025 w/ EDM).
– The tally is Perry’s 21st career goal against Colorado, tying Jordan Eberle (21 G) and Patrick Kane (21 G) for the fourth most goals against the Avalanche among active players.
– Forward Joel Armia (1-0=1) scored his ninth goal of the season, his League-leading fourth shorthanded goal (SHG) of the campaign. Armia is just the fourth Kings skater to score shorthanded four or more times within the team’s first 38 games of a season. He joins Bernie Nicholls (2x: 4 SHG in 1988-89 and 6 SHG in 1987-88), Steve Duchesne (4 SHG in 1988-89), and Tyler Toffoli (4 SHG in 2014-15).
– Since his NHL debut on Dec. 23, 2014, only Brad Marchand (23 SHG) and Jean-Gabriel Pageau (23 SHG) have more shorthanded markers than Armia’s 21. With Armia’s third period tally, the Kings have an NHL-best seven shorthanded goals on the year.
– Forward Kevin Fiala (0-1=1) picked up his 12th assist of the season with the primary helper on Perry’s game-tying goal. In doing so, the 29-year-old reached the 25-point plateau (13-12=25) in a single season for the ninth time in his career. He also extended his point streak against the Colorado Avalanche to three games (3-1=4), dating back to April 12, 2025.
– Defenseman Joel Edmundson (0-1=1) also picked up his 12th assist of the season on Perry’s tally, keeping pace with Fiala for the fifth most helpers among all Kings skaters this year. Edmundson trails only his defensive partner, Brandt Clarke (13 A), for the most assists by a Kings blueliner this season.
– Additionally, Perry skated in his 1,424th career regular season contest tonight at Ball Arena, tying Pat Verbeek (1,424 GP) for 37th-most games played in NHL history.
– Captain Anze Kopitar played in his 1,488th career regular season game this evening, breaking a tie with Wayne Gretzky (1,487 GP) for sole possession of the 27th most games played in League history.

The Kings are scheduled to return to the ice for practice on Wednesday, December 31, for a practice at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo.