The Los Angeles Kings have been fighting all season long to get into the playoffs, but today that fight ended as the Colorado Avalanche completed the sweep with a 5-1 win in Game four.
After debating whether they should shuffle the top line, D.J. Smith finally pulled the trigger, opting to put Artemi Panarin, Quinton Byfield, and Trevor Moore in the top line and moving Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar to the second line with Alex Laferriere.
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The early results were encouraging in the second period, when the changes were made; it was the best shift of the period by Laferriere, with Kopitar and Kempe together on the line, setting up Joel Edmundson right away to score and cut the deficit to one goal.
But, as they’ve done all series, the Avs responded. A three-goal burst in the final period by Colorado quickly put the Kings in a three-goal hole. Things only snowballed from there as the Kings’ offense went stagnant and Colorado began to dominate the neutral zone and convert on their open looks.
It was safe to say that with their backs against the wall, the Kings were going to play with desperation to open the game. Ten minutes into the match, LA was very aggressive on offense, outshooting the visiting team 6-2, and, once again, the opportunities to score were there.
Kings’ forward Alex Laferriere has had the most scoring chances out of every player in the playoffs who hasn’t yet scored a goal. The 24-year-old had a great look in the slot, but came up short, and so did forward Adrian Kempe, who overshot the puck above the net and went wide right.
Not only that, but the Kings got onto the power play twice in the early parts of the opening period and failed to convert a goal in both instances. The energy and hostility were there for LA fighting for their lives to force a game 5, but they couldn’t overcome Avs goaltender Scott Wedgewood.
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With that, LA left the door open again for the Avs to score, who got onto the power play after Kings defenseman Brian Dumoulin got caught for interference. Colorado would convert on the interference, scoring its first power play goal of this series after going 0-for-9 in the first three games.
Nathan MacKinnon capitalized on the one-timer shot, converting on the nice setup to score his first goal of the playoffs. That’s been the story of this series, Colorado taking advantage of the Kings’ missed shots and getting on board first to hold the one-goal lead.
Things got physical in the final two minutes of the first period after Kings forward Jeff Malott and Avs Center Jack Drury got in a fight, which resulted in another power play opportunity for Colorado.
Los Angeles, though, did a good job of killing the power play and avoiding going down by two goals after Colorado got a little bit of momentum late in the period.
At the 14:12 mark of the second period, Avs defenseman Cale Makar beat Kings forward Taylor Ward 1-on-1 with an impressive drive to the net while getting fouled and still scored to bury the goal on the short side, giving Colorado a two-goal advantage.
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Colorado was doing a good job keeping possession of the puck to start the second period, limiting shots on goal by the Kings, who went nearly 11 minutes without getting a shot on goal.
It was a very bad period for the Kings, who hadn’t sustained much of anything since that second power play in the first period. Colorado was in control of the game from that point on, with a 2-0 lead.
Just two shots on goal for LA through nearly eleven minutes until Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson stepped on the blue line and scored the goal, picking up Kempe’s backhand pass, squeezing the shot past Wedegwood.
Huge goal for the Kings, who were very stagnant and slow on offense to start the second period, now getting some momentum with that goal and cutting the deficit to one goal.
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Other than scoring that goal, it wasn’t a good period at all for Los Angeles, only generating seven shots on goal. But the Kings did a solid job at keeping the Avalanche at two goals and not further extending the lead after 40 minutes.
Just when the game felt like the Kings’ season was nearing an end with a shots-on-goal drought and the visitors in control, that goal helped bring momentum and left one more period to extend the season.
In the third period at the 16:47 mark, the Avalanche won the battle in the neutral zone against the Kings, creating a 2-on-1 led by Avs forward Artturi Lehkonen, whose shot was stopped by Anton Forsberg but was cleaned up by Nicolas Roy, giving Colorado the two-goal lead back.
No matter how hard the Kings played in this game and throughout the series, Colorado just has too many weapons and playmakers on offense for LA to compete with.
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The damage was being done to the Kings. Nearly three minutes after the Avs scored, the visitors once again got on the scoreboard. This time, defenseman Devon Toews made his mark on the game, scoring on the high glove over Forsberg to make it a three-goal lead.
The Avs’ ability to do what they want in the neutral zone against the Kings was very evident in Game 4; Colorado’s depth and offense were just dominating LA’s defense.
Colorado put the nail in the coffin after scoring on the empty net at the 5:38 mark to run away with this game and close out the Kings on the courtesy of a sweep.
Key Takeaways
Joel Edmundson scored the loan goal for the Kings late in the second period, cutting the decicit to one goal, but the offense struggled to generate any more shots from that point on.
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Anton Forsberg had another solid game under the crease, finishing with 28 saves on 32 shots. Despite giving up five goals today, credit Forsberg for playing hard all series long and making every shot tough for the Avalanche.
There will be plenty of time to discuss roster construction and coaching decisions, especially with this being Anze Kopitar’s final game. What direction will the Kings move into?
Disappointing way for the Kings to go out, especially for Kopitar, who was looking to extend his season. All good things come to an end, and it was a great career for Kopitar, with the legacy he left for nearly 20 years with the silver and black.
Stay tuned for the offseason, free agency and beyond.
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