Los Angeles Kings at Colorado Avalanche
· National Hockey League
MacKinnon has 2 goals and a rare fight in the Avs' 8-4 victory over the Kings in opener
Hours before the game, Colorado coach Jared Bednar was given a four-year contract extension. Bednar, who led Colorado to the 2022 Stanley Cup title, was in the final year of his current contract. The extension ended speculation on his future after being swept by Vegas in the Western Conference finals last spring.
“I didn’t want him to go through the whole year and have those distractions of being asked that same question, especially as the year goes on,” Avs president and general manager Joe Sakic said before Wednesday night’s game.
Artturi Lehkonen had two goals, Brock Nelson had a goal and two assist and Mackenzie Blackwood made 26 saves for Colorado, which scored four times on the power play and allowed two short-handed goals.
MacKinnon, who had a career-high 53 goals last season, scored on a 5-on-3 just 23 seconds into the second period and gave the Avs a 4-2 lead with his second at 8:33.
The 2024 MVP, whose last fight was four years ago, dropped the gloves with Kings defenseman Brandt Clark with Colorado leading 6-4 late in the third. Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog scored less than a minute later and Lehkonen iced it with his second 1:03 later.
Trevor Moore, Joel Armia and Brian Dumoulin scored for Los Angeles, and Darcy Kuemper stopped 21 shots.
Nelson and Kelly scored in the first period to give the Avs a 2-1 lead, and Moore and Armia had goals in the second period for the Kings.
Artemi Panarin scored on a delayed penalty midway through the third.
Avalanche: Host St. Louis on Saturday night
Regular Season SeriesCOL leads series 1-0
Scoring Summary
 |
Goal | 1st Period 6:33 | Brock Nelson Goal (1) Snap Shot, assists: Jaden Schwartz (1), Nazem Kadri (1) |
 |
Goal | 1st Period 15:14 | Brian Dumoulin Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Alex Laferriere (1), Alex Turcotte (1) |
|
Goal | 1st Period 17:58 | Parker Kelly Goal (1) Snap Shot, assists: Josh Manson (1) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 0:23 | Nathan MacKinnon Goal (1) Snap Shot, assists: Nazem Kadri (2), Cale Makar (1) |
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Goal | 2nd Period 1:28 | Joel Armia Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Erik Haula (1), Cody Ceci (1) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 8:33 | Nathan MacKinnon Goal (2) Wrist Shot, assists: Martin Necas (1), Brent Burns (1) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 16:01 | Nicolas Roy Goal (1) Poke, assists: Jaden Schwartz (2), Parker Kelly (1) |
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Goal | 2nd Period 17:50 | Trevor Moore Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Mikey Anderson (1) |
|
Goal | 2nd Period 18:34 | Artturi Lehkonen Goal (1) Snap Shot, assists: Brock Nelson (1), Devon Toews (1) |
|
Goal | 3rd Period 11:51 | Artemi Panarin Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Drew Doughty (1), Alex Laferriere (2) |
|
Goal | 3rd Period 14:03 | Gabriel Landeskog Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Cale Makar (2) |
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Goal | 3rd Period 15:06 | Artturi Lehkonen Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: Brock Nelson (2), Devon Toews (2) |
Statistics
 LA |
 COL |
|
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Blocked Shots | 15 |
| 17 | Hits | 19 |
| 7 | Takeaways | 3 |
| 31 | Shots | 29 |
| 0 | Power Play Goals | 4 |
| 4 | Power Play Opportunities | 5 |
| 0.0 | Power Play Percentage | 80.0 |
| 2 | Short Handed Goals | 0 |
| 0 | Shootout Goals | 0 |
| 37 | Faceoffs Won | 21 |
| 63.8 | Faceoff Win Percent | 36.2 |
| 10 | Giveaways | 12 |
| 6 | Total Penalties | 5 |
| 15 | Penalty Minutes | 13 |
Colorado Avalanche Injuries
| NAME, POS | STATUS | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| Zachary L'Heureux, LW | Out | Oct 17 |
| Nicolas Roy, C | Out | Oct 17 |
| Logan O'Connor, RW | Injured Reserve | Oct 14 |
| Georgii Merkulov, C | Injured Reserve | Sep 28 |
Los Angeles Kings Injuries
| NAME, POS | STATUS | DATE |
|---|---|---|
| Alex Turcotte, C | Injured Reserve | Oct 10 |
| Mats Zuccarello, RW | Injured Reserve | Oct 10 |
| Jakub Dvorak, D | Injured Reserve | Sep 24 |
| Jan Jenik, C | Injured Reserve | Sep 24 |
| Kevin Fiala, LW | Injured Reserve | Sep 17 |
