Rantanen has 4 points for Avalanche in win against Kings

LOS ANGELES -- Mikko Rantanen had two goals and two assists for the Colorado Avalanche in a 5-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday.

It was the second straight season opener that Rantanen tied his NHL career high with four points; he had four assists in a 5-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 12, 2022.

“Just excited, I guess,” said Rantanen, who has 18 career four-point games. “I missed some of camp, so I was just excited to play, and playing with good players helps also.”

Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, Cale Makar had a power-play goal and an assist, and Alexandar Georgiev made 34 saves for the Avalanche (1-0-0).

“Obviously, we want to make sure that we set the tempo high at the beginning of the season,” Makar said. “We have a lot of guys on this team that can produce.”

Carl Grundstrom and Quinton Byfield each scored a goal, and Cam Talbot allowed four goals on 36 shots for the Kings (0-1-0), who also played their season opener. They have lost six straight at home to Colorado.

“Obviously, it wasn’t the result we wanted, and I think we’ve got a lot more as a team,” said Los Angeles forward Alex Laferriere, who made his NHL debut.

Rantanen tipped in a Jack Johnson shot from the left point at 4:59 of the third period to put the Avalanche up 4-2.

Colorado's top line, including Jonathan Drouin, who made his team debut after signing a one-year contract July 1, combined for eight points (three goals, five assists) and was plus-6.

“They came out skating right away and created a bunch,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “They got a little stubborn with the puck at times through the neutral zone. But they're also able to make a bunch of nice plays and create a bunch of scoring chances, so they get a little bit more leeway in those areas than others. And when the game moved into the third period, they were really disciplined with the puck.”

Miles Wood scored into an empty net at 16:08 for the 5-2 final.

The Avalanche took a 3-0 lead early in the second period before the Kings cut it to 3-2.

MacKinnon made it 1-0 at 7:25 of the first period, scoring on a wrist shot from the right face-off circle off a pass from Rantanen from behind the net.

Makar made it 2-0 on the power play at 2:54 of the second period when he beat Talbot with a wrist shot through traffic from the high slot.

Rantanen scored at 3:47 to push it to 3-0 on a sharp-angle wrist shot from the left circle.

“I thought what they did better than us was commitment to finishing things,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. “They went and got pucks. They got sticks on pucks. They got bodies in front of pucks. Broke plays up defensively that we didn’t. And then offensively, they went and got pucks and tipped pucks, and we didn’t do that.”

Grundstrom cut it to 3-1 at 6:18, finishing off a pass from Phillip Danault after forcing Jack Johnson into turning the puck over in his own zone.

Byfield made it a 3-2 deficit at 19:55 when his centering pass went in off Makar’s stick after a face-off at center ice.

“The other young player that I thought had a really good night, maybe his best game as a King, was 55,” McLellan said of Byfield. “He looked confident, made great plays, not only offensively but defensively. Nice to see him score a goal for all the hard work he did.”

NOTES: Rantanen had his seventh four-point game since the start of last season -- only Connor McDavid (10 games) has more over that span. … Ross Colton and Tomas Tatar each had a point in his Avalanche debut, picking up the assists on Wood’s goal. … Ryan Johansen won 12 of 18 face-offs in his Avalanche debut. He was acquired from the Nashville Predators in a trade June 24. … Pierre-Luc Dubois played 20:28 in his Kings debut, taking three shots and winning six of 15 face-offs. He was acquired in a trade from the Winnipeg Jets on June 27 and signed an eight-year, $68 million contract ($8.5 million average annual value) that same day. ... McLellan said forward Viktor Arvidsson is "not going to be back for a little while." Arvidsson was supposed to miss at least the first two games of the season because of a lower-body injury.