Nathan MacKinnon scored two goals and added an assist for the Colorado Avalanche, who finished off the host Los Angeles Kings with a 5-1 victory Sunday to sweep the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series.
MacKinnon, who led the NHL with 53 goals in the regular season, got his first goals of the postseason. Cale Makar, Nicolas Roy and Devon Toews also scored for the Avalanche. Gabriel Landeskog added two assists in the win.
“When you need something big to happen, those players tend to show up, as he did tonight, right?” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said about MacKinnon. “He gets a big power-play goal. We needed our power play to step up and get one. It happens to be the first one in the game, which is a big one.”
Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves for the Avalanche, who will advance to play the winner of the Dallas Stars-Minnesota Wild series that’s tied 2-2.
Joel Edmundson registered his first goal of the series for the Kings, with assists coming from Adrian Kempe and Alex Laferriere.
Anton Forsberg stopped 27 of the 31 shots he faced for Los Angeles.
The Kings received two power-play opportunities in the first 10 minutes of the contest. However, it was the Avalanche who struck first, capitalizing on their first chance with the advantage with 6:47 remaining in the first.
MacKinnon’s one-timer from the left faceoff circle came off a feed from Nazem Kadri. It trickled in as Forsberg could not close the five-hole in time.
Makar doubled the lead with 14:12 left in the second. He stopped Scott Laughton’s attempted clearance at the point and turned around Taylor Ward, who was playing in his first Stanley Cup playoff game, as he skated into the right circle and beat Forsberg on the short side for his second of the series.
While Colorado padded its lead, the Kings went 11:38 between shots on Wedgewood. That prompted the Kings to shuffle their lines, and Edmundson broke the ice with 6:17 remaining in the second.
It became a two-goal lead again with 16:47 left in the third on Roy’s second of the series, as he put away a rebound created by Forsberg’s denial of Artturi Lehkonen.
Less than three minutes later, Toews got his first from MacKinnon and Landeskog.
With their season on the brink, the Kings pulled Forsberg with 5:48 remaining. MacKinnon finished the scoring 20 seconds later.
“Ultimately, I think at the end of the day, we probably lost this series to a really good hockey team, and give them credit, it’s not offense,” Kings interim coach D.J. Smith said, after his team was held to five goals in the four games. “They have offense. They have lots. It’s how well they check and how well they defend themselves.”
The loss was the final game for Kings captain Anze Kopitar, who announced his plans to retire after this season. As the game neared its end, Kings fans chanted their thanks to Kopitar, who played 20 seasons for the Kings and led them to two Stanley Cups.
–Field Level Media
