LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Kings beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-4 in an absolute barn-burner in the Crypto.com Arena.
Los Angeles started off the scoring four minutes into the first period, with center Quinton Byfield knocking in his 22nd goal of the season. Pushing up the right side of the ice, winger Andrei Kuzmenko fed Byfield in front of the net, who snapped a writer home to go up 1-0.
Shortly later, the Kings would go up 2-0 after winger Kevin Fiala scored his first of two goals in the contest. Only 20 seconds into the powerplay, winger Andrei Kuzmenko fed Fiala, who picked a corner from the slot and passed Colorado goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood to make the score 1-0.
The Avalanche would respond on a powerplay of their own just over three minutes later to bring the score back within one. On a five-on-three scenario, center Charlie Coyle launched a saucer pass across the crease to center Brock Nelson for a one-timer on the bottom of the right circle to make the score 2-1.
During the second period, winger Valeri Nichushkin evened the score at two just over two minutes into the frame. After a wrap-around chance from winger Artturi Lehkonen, the puck popped out to Nichushkin in front of the cage, who smacked it into the open net past Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper.
Los Angeles would respond during the middle of the second period to give themselves a lead that would stay theirs until the end of the game. It would be winger Alex Laferriere who netted his 18th of the year. Off the faceoff, defenseman Brandt Clarke pushed along the wall before turning back and hitting Laferriere for the one-timer. This put the Kings up 3-2 with nine minutes remaining in the second period. Along with his two assists in this game, this also marks his first career 40-point season. This is the seventh Kings skater this year to hit this point, which is tied for second most in the league. Laferriere also extends his point streak to four straight games.
Captain center Anze Kopitar would add to the team’s lead three minutes later on an assist from winger Adrian Kempe. After Kempe hit a one-timer off the pass from defenseman Mikey Anderson, Kopitar cleaned up the rebound to put L.A. up 4-2.
The Avalanche would strike next in the middle stage of the third period, bringing the score back within one. After a turnover from winger Trevor Moore in his offensive zone, Nichushkin pushed the other direction for Colorado before dropping a pass to defenseman Sam Malinski, who ripped a shot bar down at the top of the right circle.
Fiala would score his second goal of the game three minutes later to help get the lead back up to two for the Kings. With eight minutes remaining in the contest, Laferriere wrapped a pass around to Fiala in the center for a one-timer right in front of the cage to make the score 5-3. Fiala set a new single-season high for goals at 34 and moved into the leading goal-scorer spot for L.A.
Colorado would have one more response from Nelson in the remaining three minutes of the game. With their goaltender pulled, Nelson would find a rebound at the side of the net, walk toward the middle and take a shot that slipped through Kuemper’s legs and into the back of the net.
There were a lot of positives for the Kings: they had 32 shots in the game while scoring five goals against a top-tier team and still held up relatively well defensively, though it did look shaky at times.
The Kings will play the Edmonton Oilers on Monday at 7 p.m. in what will soon be the fourth straight first-round matchup during the playoffs in only a few weeks.