After taking care of business and earning a 2-0 series lead as the games shifted into Los Angeles, the Colorado Avalanche continued to roll right along as they secured a 4-2 win over the Kings, and a 3-0 series lead with the possibility to complete the sweep on Sunday afternoon.
Let’s take a look at the action from tonight!
It didn’t take long for Gabriel Landeskog to get the scoring started for the Avs on a really flukey goal. Landeskog shot the puck from the top of the offensive zone, and the puck bounced off the boards, off of Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg’s skate, and into the back of the net. With that score Colorado enjoyed a 1-0 first period lead which would carry into the first intermission.
The Kings would tie the game at 1-1 early in the second period with a flukey goal of their own, as a shot deflected off of Trevor Moore, who was tied up with Josh Manson, and went into the back of the Avalanche net.
Los Angeles had hope in this game for about six minutes but then Cale Makar would give Colorado the lead once again, as a seeing-eye shot found its way past Forsberg, beating him cleanly and giving the Avs a 2-1 lead, which is how the second period would end.
Early in the third period the Kings had another opportunity to tie the game with a power play but Artturi Lehkonen erased that possibility as he would make it 3-1 Colorado on a shorthanded goal, as he was able to beat Forsberg through the five-hole with Logan O’Connor streaking towards the net.
Los Angeles would get another power play opportunity late in the third period, and they would convert on the opportunity for the third time in the series by pulling the goaltender to go 6-on-4. Adrian Kempe would tip the puck past Scott Wedgewood off a shot from Artemi Panarin.
Still, it wasn’t enough to rattle the Avalanche as Brock Nelson would simply score an empty net goal for Colorado after that, putting them back up by two goals, securing a 4-2 win, and a commanding 3-0 series lead for the Avalanche
That game looked and felt more like Avalanche hockey. Finally, they were able to break through more on offense than they were able to do in the first couple of games despite getting outshot 26-23. I’m sure it’s been said before, but it wasn’t exactly a secret that the Kings wanted to play the defensive, muck-it-up game that they’ve been playing this series. That’s what they’re good at, and how they’re successful, so the first two games ending up the way they did weren’t all that surprising.
Instead, what has pleasantly surprised me is Colorado’s willingness, seemingly, to play this way with the Kings instead of the other way around, and being patient and playing with them has paid off so far, clearly. They’ve been the better team this series (minus the power play, which is officially 0/9 this series), and were rewarded for it more tonight, as they were finally able to beat Forsberg a few more times tonight than they were in the first two games. Now, they have the opportunity to close this series out on Sunday in LA.
Colorado takes on the Kings for Game 4 of this first-round series looking for the sweep on Sunday, April 26. Puck drop will be at 2:30 p.m. MT.
