Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves in his first Stanley Cup playoffs start and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 in Game 1 of their best-of-seven first-round series Sunday in Denver.
Artturi Lehkonen and Logan O’Connor scored for the Avalanche, who had the league’s best record to earn the Western Conference’s top seed.
“Felt like we played a consistent game tonight, nothing special,” said Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar. “We stuck to our game.”
Artemi Panarin got the goal for the Kings, who claimed the eighth seed with the fewest points of all 16 playoff teams. Anton Forsberg, who also started his first playoff contest, stopped 28 shots.
Panarin spoiled Wedgewood’s bid for a shutout with a 6-on-4 power-play goal with 2:22 left. Panarin scored on a screened shot from the high slot.
“We have some more to give offensively in their zone, especially holding on to pucks, making it harder on them to come 200 feet,” said veteran Kings center Scott Laughton. “We did a good job defensively. And again, 31 (Forsberg) was really good for us.”
Lehkonen gave Colorado a 1-0 lead with 4:31 left in the second period when he put in the rebound of his own tip attempt.
O’Connor made it 2-0 5:50 into the third period. He picked up a loose puck at the top of the right circle, skated in and beat Forsberg high on the short side.
An apparent goal by O’Connor 6:46 into the middle period was waved off immediately as Jack Drury was whistled for goaltender interference. Drury went into Forsberg after colliding with defenseman Drew Doughty. Colorado coach Jared Bednar challenged as he claimed Doughty was responsible for the contact, but the call was upheld.
Kings defenseman Brian Dumoulin was helped off the ice a little more than six minutes into the second after blocking an O’Connor shot.
Wedgewood stopped Trevor Moore, who charged in from the blue line, on a semi-breakaway with three minutes left in the first and Doughty sent a backhand wide with an open net seconds later.
The Avalanche fired the first four shots. The Kings’ first came 6:42 into the game by Adrian Kempe from the right circle off the rush.
Colorado did not have a shot during a power play in the middle of the period.
–Field Level Media
