Avalanche notch gritty victory in chaotic Game 2 over LA Kings

The Colorado Avalanche notched a true playoff victory on Tuesday night against the LA Kings. As implausible as it may have seemed, the Avs pulled out a 2-1 comeback win to grab a 2-0 series lead. The contest was scoreless late into the third period, with the Kings taking a 1-0 third-period lead on the heels of an Artemi Panarin power play goal.

It seemed like the Kings would pull off an upset, but Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog’s first postseason tally sent the game to overtime.

There, it was two Avalanche newcomers who ended the night on a high note. Nazem Kadri, who’s not really a newcomer, helped set up the game-winner by Nic Roy, giving Colorado a 2-0 series lead.

The victory, of course, would not have been possible without the brilliant performance by Scott Wedgewood. Wedgewood stopped 24 shots, but none was bigger than the penalty shot save on Quinton Byfield.

Byfield had actually beaten Wedgewood, but the sprawling, desperation move allowed the Avalanche netminder to get a glove on Byfield’s shot. The early candidate for “best save of the postseason” kept the game scoreless.

The crowd’s reaction following the incredible save literally brought the house down. Fans rocking the glass behind the Kings’ bench ended up breaking a glass pane, sending shards raining down on Los Angeles head coach DJ Smith. Fortunately, he was uninjured in the incident.

Repairs delayed the game by about 20 minutes. When action resumed, both teams traded chances until Panarin broke the scoreless tie in the third.

All told, the matchup became a slogfest for most of the early going. The game got physical, but in a highly disruptive way. Several scrums slowed the pace of the game down. In particular, Josh Manson’s hit on Kings forward Scott Laughton led to LA responding with a couple of questionable hits of their own.

The most egregious one was a check from behind on Arturri Lehkonen. Thankfully, Lehkonen was not hurt on the play. Also, this hit on Martin Necas exploded into plenty of roughhousing.

It was clear that the LA Kings wanted to slog the game down. For the most part, they succeeded in disrupting the Avalanche’s high-flying, puck-possession-driven game.

It’s also worth noting that the Kings targeted Cale Makar frequently. In one instance, the Norris Trophy winner ended up at the bottom of a pile during extracurricular activities.

The Kings will have to go back to the drawing board for Game 3. The Kings have tried two different approaches, and neither has worked. So, they’ll have to figure out another way of approaching this series. But looking at the trend, it seems the series could be over quickly.

Game 3 will take place in Los Angeles on Thursday night with an 8 pm MST start time.

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