The Colorado Avalanche have battled through three tightly contested games thus far in their first round series, emerging victorious despite, among other things, the stifling defensive tactics employed by the Los Angeles Kings.<\/p>\n
With a victory today, the Avalanche can be the first team in the Western Conference to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n
1 Colorado Avalanche (3-0)<\/p>\n
The Opponent: 2WC Los Angeles Kings (0-3)<\/p>\n
Time: 2:30 P.M. MDT\/4:30 P.M. EDT<\/p>\n
Watch: ALT, ALT + (Avalanche Broadcast Area), FDSNSC (Kings Broadcast Area), HBO Max, TNT, truTV (US National Broadcast), SN360, SNP, SNW, SN+, TVAS2, TVAS+ (Canadian National Broadcast)<\/p>\n
Listen: Altitude Sports Radio KKSE-FM 92.5 FM<\/p>\n
Scoring had been hard to come by for the Avalanche in the first two games against Los Angeles, with their first goals not coming until the second and third period, respectively. Game Three was a different story, as a shot from Gabe Landeskog ricocheted off the end boards before bouncing off the skate of goaltender Anton Forsberg early in the first period to give the Avs the lead. Los Angeles would tie the game with a bounce of their own off Trevor Moore in the second period, but Cale Makar\u2019s first goal of the playoffs restored the lead. A shorthanded goal from Artturi Lehkonen would give the Avs some breathing room in the third, but a power play goal for Los Angeles would make things interesting late. Brock Nelson would cap off the night with an empty net goal to secure a 3-0 series lead to wrap up a game that featured more end to end action for both teams. Scott Wedgewood stopped twenty-four of twenty-six shots for his third consecutive playoff win.<\/p>\n
Despite Game Three being more wide open, it still featured plenty of physical play throughout. After a hard hit from Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson into the boards at the Los Angeles bench late in the first period, Josh Manson would play sparsely in the second period before missing the remainder of the game. Head coach Jared Bednar said yesterday that Manson was \u201csore\u201d and \u201cunlikely\u201d to be in the lineup for today\u2019s game. When pressed for a further opinion on Manson\u2019s status yesterday, he said, \u201cWe don\u2019t know how long he\u2019s going to be [unavailable] yet, so it\u2019s hard to say. [\u2026] I won\u2019t have a timeline. I don\u2019t have a timeline. We\u2019ll just take it day by day, and see how he\u2019s feeling, and go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manson\u2019s absence opens the door for Nick Blankenburg to step into the lineup for the first postseason appearance of his career. While Blankenburg is certainly capable of physical defensive play in his own right, it would be a pretty tall task to elevate his physicality to that of playoff Manson having never skated in playoff situations before. \u201cWe need him to be solid defensively,\u201d Bednar explained. \u201cHe\u2019s perfectly capable of coming into our system and being a responsible, defensive player and helping us move the puck out of the zone and into the offensive zone\u2014what we expect from all of our D\u2014anything he can add beyond that is a bonus. [\u2026] I feel good about the option we have in [Blankenburg] coming into the lineup and being able to help us. It\u2019s why I\u2019m glad we got him a bunch of games down the stretch. It hasn\u2019t been that long [since he\u2019s played], so he\u2019s been in all the meetings, and he should be in tune with what we\u2019re trying to do here for Game Four.\u201d<\/p>\n
Game Three also marked the return of Ross Colton to the Avalanche lineup. When asked about what he\u2019s looking for out of Colton, Bednar said, \u201cHungry game from [Colton], I felt. Committed, played with great urgency and determination in the game, made his presence felt on the forecheck, and created a couple of really dangerous scoring chances for himself, for his linemates. He added an element of physicality and speed to our game, so I was happy with his game. Again, it is really hard to create offense, but he did a nice job in his time to help us do that, and help the second line.\u201d<\/p>\n
It should be noted that Colton had 8:22 of ice time in Game Three, the lowest total ice time among all forwards. Jack Drury (9:26) and Parker Kelly (9:31) were the only other forwards that had fewer than ten minutes of total ice time in Game Three.<\/p>\n
The Avs had an extra day of rest coming into today\u2019s game, which could provide some extra spark for them to utilize their speed to help create more offensive opportunities. As has been the case throughout the series, those opportunities won\u2019t come easy, and with Los Angeles on the brink of elimination, they will throw everything they can at the Avs to slow down them down as much as possible. Elimination games are difficult to win, and the Avs have not closed out an opponent to advance in the postseason since eliminating the Winnipeg Jets in the first round back in 2024. A win today would give the Avs some valuable rest before the start of the second round, especially since their next playoff opponent in either Dallas or Minnesota will now be forced to play no fewer than six games in their first round series.<\/p>\n
Coming into today\u2019s game, both Landeskog and Lehkonen share the team lead in scoring at two goals apeice, while Lehkonen leads the team in playoff points with three. While there might be some concern in the lack of production from the likes of Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Ne\u010das, which had been a staple for the Avs during the regular season, the Avs have also returned the favor on the defensive side of their game as well, having limited the Kings to four total goals across three games. When addressing the media yesterday on his opinion on the low offensive output to this point in the series, Ne\u010das said, \u201cIt would be a different story if we\u2019re not scoring much and maybe down 2-1 or something like that, but being 3-nothing up, with not scoring many goals, I think we\u2019re pretty comfortable, and it honestly feels almost better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given Wedgewood\u2019s solid performance in this series, expect him to start in goal today as he looks to earn his first playoff series win.<\/p>\n
Forwards:
Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Ne\u010das
Parker Kelly – Brock Nelson – Valeri Nichushkin
Gabe Landeskog – Nazem Kadri – Nicolas Roy
Ross Colton – Jack Drury – Logan O\u2019Connor<\/p>\n
Defense:
Cale Makar – Devon Toews
Brett Kulak – Sam Malinksi
Nick Blankenburg – Brent Burns<\/p>\n
Between the Pipes:
Scott Wedgewood
Mackenzie Blackwood<\/p>\n
What do you do if you\u2019re the Los Angeles Kings coming into today\u2019s game? The League\u2019s most potent offense, featuring the current Rocket Richard winner in Nathan MacKinnon\u2014who hasn\u2019t scored a goal during this postseason\u2014has been held to eight total goals. The power play has found success in three straight games. The penalty kill has been flawless. Anton Forsberg has been solid. Artemi Panarin has been the primary driver on offense, which is what General Manager Ken Holland was banking on when he made the trade for him.<\/p>\n
The ingredients for playoff success are there, and what\u2019s been the end result? An elimination game scenario on your own ice after three consecutive losses to start the postseason.<\/p>\n
The Stanley Cup Playoffs giveth, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs taketh away.<\/p>\n
Despite the defense limiting Colorado\u2019s high-powered offense to this point in the series, Colorado\u2019s defense has returned the favor in spades. Los Angeles has only led for a total of 3:21 throughout the entire series. That primary offensive driver in Panarin scored power play goals in both Game One and Game Two, but was limited to a single assist in Game Three. Adrian Kempe and Trevor Moore have one goal each. Quinton Byfield and Alex Laferriere have registered only two assists. That same power play gave up a shorthanded goal late in Game Three, which proved to be the game-winner.<\/p>\n
In addressing the media yesterday, head coach D.J. Smith said, \u201cWe just got to play our best game one time, and then we\u2019ll worry about the next game, but we have to find a way to score more while playing the exact same defense. Is it hard? Yes. Are we going to give it everything we got? Yes. I think you\u2019re going to see our best game of the series.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Smith\u2019s roster, an unlucky bounce led to Forsberg kicking the puck into his own goal early in the first period, and with Forsberg on the bench for the empty net late in the third, a neutral zone turnover by An\u017ee Kopitar flipped a potential game tying scenario into the final nail in the coffin and a 0-3 series deficit. While luck can hardly be accounted for in any situation, outcomes like that have the potential to make or break a series.<\/p>\n
For Los Angeles, they face the latter. \u201cI think the game plan is correct,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI just think that you want more results, and let\u2019s see if we get them in Game Four, but there\u2019s nothing to feel bad about. I think our team plays hard, I think we\u2019re organized and we\u2019re detailed. We just probably should at least have one win, and we\u2019re probably feeling different, so I like everything everyone\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n
The phrase, \u201cThere is no tomorrow\u201d holds even more significance ahead of today\u2019s game. \u201cRight now, we\u2019ve got nothing to lose,\u201d Kopitar said in comments to the media yesterday. \u201cIt\u2019s focusing tomorrow on the start, having a good start, and just go from there. To think what\u2019s going to happen in a couple of days, or four days or five days from now, there\u2019s really no need for that. It\u2019s just staying in the moment, go down there tomorrow, and play our asses off, and see where that takes us.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if he was prepared for Game Four to be his last game, Kopitar said, \u201cI hope it\u2019s not going to be [my last game]. Can you ever be emotionally prepared? Probably not, so we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those sound like words of someone who, rather than playing like he has nothing to lose, feels exactly the opposite.<\/p>\n
Forwards:
Artemi Panarin – An\u017ee Kopitar – Adrian Kempe
Trevor Moore – Quinton Byfield – Alex Laferriere
Joel Armia – Scott Laughton – Jared Wright
Mathieu Joseph – Samuel Helenius – Jeff Malott<\/p>\n
Defense:
Mikey Anderson – Drew Doughty
Joel Edmundson – Brandt Clarke
Brian Dumoulin – Cody Ceci<\/p>\n
Between the Pipes:
Anton Forsberg
Darcy Kuemper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Colorado Avalanche have battled through three tightly contested games thus far in their first round series, emerging…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49,24340],"class_list":["post-287193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-open-threads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287193","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=287193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}