Avalanche win Game 3, on verge of sweep against Kings in West 1st Round

LOS ANGELES -- The Colorado Avalanche pushed the Los Angeles Kings to the brink with a 4-2 win in Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday.

The Avalanche lead the best-of-7 series 3-0 and can complete the sweep in Game 4 here on Sunday (4:30 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, FDSNSC, truTV, TNT, ALT, TVAS2, SNP, SNW, SN360).

“Sticking with it, sticking with what we’re doing, continue to do what’s working for us, and improve what we can do better. I think it’s as simple as that,” Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “It doesn’t change whether it’s after Game 1, 2, or 3, our approach is still going to be the same.”

Artturi Lehkonen had a goal and an assist, and Landeskog, Cale Makar and Brock Nelson also scored for the Avalanche, who are the No. 1 seed from the Central Division and Western Conference. Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves.

“It’s been tough sledding to create offense, but we have different guys stepping up on different nights and scoring in different situations, even if it’s just one to do it to make the difference,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said.

Adrian Kempe and Trevor Moore scored, and Anton Forsberg made 19 saves for the Kings, who are the second wild card from the Western Conference.

“I mean, all the games have been tight,” Los Angeles forward Quinton Byfield said. “We keep saying we’re right there, but I think each guy, including myself, we have to give a little bit more. We’re doing the right things, but we just have to dig in a little more.”

Landeskog gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 5:29 of the first period. His shot from the blue line went wide of the net, but it caromed off the end boards back toward the left post, where Forsberg knocked it into his own goal with his right skate blade.

“I think there’s some times where you just don’t get bounces like that,” Makar said. “And, obviously, tonight was a good start to the game. I think it definitely gave us a little bit of a jolt in terms of feeling that maybe we can continue to press a little bit. Obviously, they started the game hot, like we touched on, and for us to be able to get that one there, I felt like it was huge.”

Moore tied it 1-1 at 5:55 of the second period when Byfield’s backhand pass from along the right boards deflected in off his shin. It was the first even-strength goal Los Angeles has scored in the series.

While Moore was crashing the net, he was high-sticked by Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson, who received a double minor on the play. However, the Kings could not capitalize on the ensuing two-minute power play, with the first part of the penalty nullified by Moore’s goal.

“(We have to) find ways to score,” Los Angeles interim coach D.J. Smith said. “We had looks. I mean, give them credit, but we missed the net 13 times leading into the third period. Sometimes you can play real well for stretches, and it happens in the regular season, and you don’t get the results. Then you’ll win a game you don’t deserve to win. For us, I thought the first half of the game, we played them as hard and as good as we could, and we probably didn’t get the results.”

Makar put the Avalanche back in front 2-1 at 12:12, scoring blocker side with a point shot through heavy traffic.

“We’ve talked about it, we got to create more traffic in front, and I think we did a better job of it today,” Lehkonen said.

Lehkonen pushed it to 3-1 with a short-handed goal at 7:39 of the third period. His intended pass for Logan O'Connor on a 2-on-1 rush deflected off Kempe’s skate and through Forsberg’s five-hole.

“Well, I was for sure trying to pass to ‘OC’ on the backside there, but luckily it went in,” Lehkonen said. “It was a little bit different kind of goal, but we’ll take it.”

Kempe cut it to 3-2 on a power play at 15:57, chipping in Artemi Panarin’s shot-pass at the right post with Forsberg pulled for an extra attacker.

Nelson scored an empty-net goal at 17:42 for the 4-2 final.

“We have to keep doing a lot of the things we are doing,” Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. “Obviously, we have to clean up giving up some of these chances that we’re giving up, and we’d like to get more than two goals. We have one in the first two and two tonight, and unfortunately against this team, I don’t think that’s enough.”

NOTES: Manson played two shifts in the second period and missed the third while being evaluated for an upper-body injury he appeared to sustain when he was pinned against the boards by Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson late in the first. Bednar said Manson would undergo further evaluation on Friday.