coach D.J. Smith<\/a> said. \u201cAnd then, you know, it\u2019s just momentum changes. But you can\u2019t think about that without winning one, and you can\u2019t think about winning one without winning the first period.<\/p>\n\u201cYou\u2019re up against it, but I don\u2019t think you can think about winning the series. You just got to think about winning one game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The series has been a lot closer than the deficit would indicate. The Kings have won the battle of the special teams, with their penalty kill shutting out the NHL\u2019s highest-scoring team on nine chances. They\u2019ve also scored a power-play goal in each of three games and held Nathan MacKinnon, the league\u2019s top goal-scorer, to one assist in three games.<\/p>\n
MacKinnon didn\u2019t even take a shot in Game 3, yet Colorado won 4-2 with two goals bouncing in off the skates of Kings forward Adrian Kempe and goalie Anton Forsberg while another was scored into an empty net.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou still lose the game,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cThis time of year doesn\u2019t really matter. You can say it feels good, you do all these good things. But if you don\u2019t win the game, it\u2019s kind of it\u2019s the only thing that matters right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Kings](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777168586_87_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
ings center Scott Laughton (21) checks Avalanche defenseman Sam Malinski (70) into the boards during the second period of Game 2 in Denver.<\/p>\n
(Jack Dempsey \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Added forward Scott Laughton, \u201cSometimes you get the bounce, sometimes you don\u2019t. You have to have a very-narrow minded focus. We\u2019ve got to stick to the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Kings have only four goals in the series and have scored just once at even strength, so Smith scrambled his bottom two forward lines in practice Saturday in a search for speed in the offensive end. But he said he doesn\u2019t plan any major changes for Game 4, adding the Kings just need to check harder, move the puck better and get to the net more.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the game plan is correct,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
However the Kings have taken just 76 shots in the three games, making things far too easy for Avalanche goalie Scott Wedgewood, who has been brilliant.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to find ways to put the puck in the net, whether that\u2019s crashing the nets, making the play for an empty netter. It doesn\u2019t matter at this point,\u201d said Kings\u2019 captain Anze Kopitar, whose 20-year NHL career ends when his team\u2019s season does. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to find a way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith, who rallied the Kings into the playoffs after taking over for Jim Hiller with 23 games left in the regular season, is making his Stanley Cup playoff debut as a head coach. But he\u2019s been in this position before. As an assistant with Windsor in the Ontario Hockey League, Smith coached a team that overcame a 3-0 deficit and went on to win the league title.<\/p>\n
That was a big mountain. And they climbed it one step at a time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to play our best game one time, and then we\u2019ll worry about the next game,\u201d Smith said. \u201cBut we have to find a way to score more while playing the exact same defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it hard? Yes. Are we going to give it everything we got? Yes. I think you\u2019re going to see our best game in the series.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The best way to climb a mountain is one step at a time. Especially when you\u2019re wearing skates.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[122663,122661,423,18027,664,48,52,51,47,50,49,66,24178,14992,2504,425,122662,1573,12304,427,315],"class_list":["post-286247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-elimination","tag-empty-net","tag-game","tag-good-way","tag-king","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-mountain","tag-nathan-mackinnon","tag-power-play-goal","tag-regular-season","tag-series","tag-skate","tag-smith","tag-step","tag-team","tag-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}