Kings' narrow loss to Avalanche places them in 2-0 series deficit
Despite the Kings doing many of the exact things they needed to do to pull an upset, the Colorado Avalanche prevented Los Angeles from stealing either of the first two games in Denver.
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Sam Malinski (70) and Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty (8) and left wing Artturi Lehkonen (62) and defenseman Mikey Anderson (44) and right wing Quinton Byfield (55) push each other in front of goaltender Anton Forsberg (31) in the first period in game two of the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Ball Arena. The Los Angeles Kings got 34 saves from Anton Forsberg. They blocked 26 shots.
They watched Mikey Anderson almost singlehandedly shut down a 3-on-1 rush. They got a lucky bounce, leading Artemi Panarin to score a goal. It still wasn’t enough to stop them from going down 2-0 in the series.
Despite the Kings doing many of the exact things they needed to do to pull an upset, Gabriel Landeskog tied the game with 3:35 remaining in the third period and Nicolas Roy’s overtime winner gave the Colorado Avalanche their second straight 2-1 win over the Kings and prevented Los Angeles from stealing either of the first two games in Denver. “We played two good games. Tonight [was] better than the first,” interim head coach D.
J. Smith said. “We had every opportunity.