Strong Colorado Avalanche Sweep Los Angeles Kings in Round 1
In the second sweep of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Colorado Avalanche took 4 games to defeat the Los Angeles Kings in Round 1 of the Western Conference. Coming in, Colorado was the top seed in the playoffs by quite a ways, and the Kings were a low seed, so this isn’t totally unexpected.
Avalanche Dominate Round 1
Colorado pulled off the sweep without the high scoring of Nathan MacKinnon, who led the NHL in goals (53) in the regular season and was also ranked 3rd in points (127) and tied for 3rd in assists (74). He scored twice in Game 4 in a strong comeback from three off games by his lofty standards.
The key for the Avalanche was the performance of Scott Wedgewood in goal. Wedgewood was making his playoff debut in Game 1 at 33 despite being in the NHL since the 2015-2016 season, and made 20+ saves in all 4 games of Round 1. His SV% is 0.950 in the playoffs, ranking him 3rd in the league, and his GAA is 1.21. He only allowed 5 goals over 4 games.
Kings Goalie Anton Forsberg was also strong in the goal, saving 34 shots in Game 2 and finishing his playoff effort with a GAA of 2.70 and SV% of 0.909. On the offensive side, Artemi Panarin led the team with 2 goals, and Alex Laferrie recorded 4 assists and points to lead the team.
The Avalanche won Game 1, 2-1, were pushed to overtime in a 2-1 decision in Game 2, beat the Kings 4-2 in Game 3, and 5-1 in Game 4. Offensively, MacKinnon, Artturi Lehkonnen, and Gabriel Landeskog led the team with 4 points each. Nicolas Roy and Cale Makar joined that trio with 2 goals to lead the team, and 7 players had 2 assists each in a highly balanced offensive effort.
Player and Coach Reactions Post-Game 4
Game 4 on April 26 marked the end of Round 1 for both teams, with the Avalanche advancing to play either the Minnesota Wild or Dallas Stars in Round 2. That series is currently tied 2-2 and is far from decided, so Colorado will have a few days to rest and recover.
Not only is the Kings’ season over, but Game 4 also marked the end of Anze Kopitar’s career, a forward who had played for Los Angeles for 20 seasons and helped them win two Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014.
“No one’s bigger than the team, and ‘Kopi’ showed that every single day that I was here, everyone was the same,” D.J. Smith, interim head coach of the Kings, said. “These things that go by the wayside, that star players in sports today, a lot of them don’t do anymore, ‘Kopi’ is a throwback and a classy, classy human being.”
This does mean that the Kings have lost eight playoff games in a row (losing Games 3-6 to the Edmonton Oilers in Round 1 in 2025), so they will have to rebound next year.
Wedgewood said that he was glad for the rest before Round 2. “When you’re hoping for obviously a deep and long run, the least amount of games you can play are definitely going to be a benefit,” he said. “Home ice helps. You’re going to be sleeping in your bed for a couple extra nights. … Little extra time to prepare and heal up is obviously going to pay off, and obviously get ready for whoever comes next.”
Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar had great things to say about MacKinnon after Game 4. “I didn’t see any frustration from him at all, like when it comes to not producing through the first three games that he would normally produce, and that kind of tells me where our team is at.”
The Avalanche will hope that the Wild-Stars matchup goes to 7 games so they can get as much rest at home as possible before a run at the Stanley Cup.
