The Kings opened the 2023-24 season welcoming in the Colorado Avalanche Wednesday night on TNT. The energy was running high in the building as the Kings’ opening night roster was announced one by one to begin the game.
The Kings lineup was a bit lighter than normal as the roster consisted of just 11 forwards, six defenseman and two goalies tonight due to salary cap constraints. On the roster but not suiting up for the Kings were Viktor Arvidsson, who sustained a lower-body injury in practice earlier this week and Arthur Kaliyev, who was serving the first of his two-game suspension.
Playing with one less skater than normal, the Kings surrendered the season’s first goal when Mikko Rantanen found Nathan MacKinnon in front of the net for a 1-0 lead. Despite the one goal deficit, the Kings went into the first intermission with 11-9 advantage in shots.
Things got interesting in the second period as the teams combined for four goals and a fight. The Avalanche gave themselves some breathing room early in the period with a pair of goals pushing their lead to 3-0, 3:47 into the middle stanza. First finding the back of the net with a Cale Makar power-play goal and then quickly after, a Rantanen goal short-side high shot on Cam Talbot, the Avalanche looked to take a stranglehold on the game. Down but not out, Carl Grundstrom netted the Kings’ first goal of the season with a net-front tip-in off of a Phillip Danault pass. Then, with just 10 seconds left in the period and a face off at center ice, the Kings were able to cut the deficit in half when Anze Kopitar won the draw forward, flipped the puck in on goal and created a rebound for the forechecking Quinton Byfield. Byfield won the race to the loose puck, threw the puck towards the net a benefited from a fortuitous bounce as the puck deflected into the net. The goal for Byfield marked the ninth of his career in his 100th career game.
Entering the third period 3-2, Rantanen put some separation between the two teams with his second goal and fourth point of the night when he beautifully tipped in a Jack Johnson point shot past Talbot 4:59 into the final 20. Despite five power play opportunities for the Kings, the home team came up empty on the man advantage. An empty net goal by Miles Wood sealed the Kings fait and gave the Avalanche their first two points of the season.
