Los Angeles Kings Face Elimination Going Into Game 4, Have To Take Victory
The Colorado Avalanche are up 3-0 against the Los Angeles Kings, who will need to win in Game 4 or be eliminated from the playoffs. Given that the Avalanche were the top seed to the playoffs by 8 standings points and Los Angeles is a team that ranked 20th overall in terms of standings points, so they’re the low seed, it wasn’t expected that the Kings would advance.
Avalanche Take Games 1-3 Over Kings
The Avalanche won Game 1 2-1, with Los Angeles getting a goal from Artemi Panarin on a power play and Artturi Lehkonen and Logan O’Connor scoring for the Avalanche. Colorado Goalie Scott Wedgewood, age 33, got his first career playoff start and is now the third-oldest in NHL history to do so. He made 24 saves in Game 1. The Kings didn’t play poorly, but couldn’t quite keep up with their opponents.
Game 2 was a closer affair, as Panarin had the game’s only goal in the third period when the Avalanche’s Gabriel Landeskog scored with less than 4 minutes left to play. In overtime, Nicolas Roy scored the game-winner for the Avalanche.
“I like to be in this area [the goalmouth], and a lot of those goals are scored there. So I try to be there as much as I can,” the forward said about the game. “We’re comfortable playing these types of games, especially in playoffs. A team like LA, we knew it wasn’t going to be a high-scoring game.”
Game 3 wasn’t as close as the first two games, unfortunately for the Kings. Landeskog scored in the first period, and Trevor Moore scored for Los Angeles in the second period to tie the game. He got high-sticked in the process, but the Kings couldn’t score on the power play.
Cale Makar and Lehkonen proceeded to score, putting the Avalanche up 3-1. That changed to 3-2 when Adrian Kempe scored for the Kings after goalie Forsberg got pulled for another attacker. Even then, Brock Nelson was able to score for the Avalanche, who won 4-2.
The Avalanche’s defenseman Josh Manson sustained an upper-body injury in the game and did not play in the third period.
Player Reactions
Landeskog, the captain of Colorado’s team, was asked about the Avalanche’s strategy by the press. “Sticking with it, sticking with what we’re doing, continue to do what’s working for us, and improve what we can do better. I think it’s as simple as that,” he said. “It doesn’t change whether it’s after Game 1, 2, or 3, our approach is still going to be the same.”
“I mean, all the games have been tight,” said Quintonn Byfield of the Kings, who had a penalty shot blocked by Wedgewood in Game 3. “We keep saying we’re right there, but I think each guy, including myself, has to give a little bit more. We’re doing the right things, but we just have to dig in a little more.”
The Kings’ Drew Doughty spoke after the game. “Obviously, we have to clean up giving up some of these chances that we’re giving up, and we’d like to get more than two goals. We have one in the first two and two tonight, and unfortunately against this team, I don’t think that’s enough.”
How the Kings Can Avoid Elimination
As Doughty said, Los Angeles has been playing well but missing too many shots against the strong Colorado defense. Wedgewood has been excellent in the goal, and is ranked 3rd of all playoff goalies in GAA (1.28) and SV% (0.47). Among defenseman, the Avalanche’s Brock Faber is tied for 1st in goals (2) and tied for 3rd in points (3).
That’s a hard defensive line to break through, but if the Kings can’t figure it out, they will be eliminated from the 2026 NHL playoffs in front of a home crowd on April 26.
