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The Colorado Avalanche lead their playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings 3-0, showcasing a balanced offensive attack. Key players like Nathan MacKinnon are contributing without excessive ice time, reflecting a strategic shift in their approach.
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The Avalancheās depth have carried the offense in this series. Quite frankly, this is by design.
Gone are the days of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Mikko Rantanen putting up historic scoring paces and Colorado still losing. Gone are the days of head coach Jared Bednar throwing his top line out for 23+ minutes per night in the playoffs.
In fact, the Avs defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 on Thursday to build a 3-0 series lead, and MacKinnon led the forwards with just 19:30 of total ice time.
MacKinnon hasnāt scored yet in this series. Martin Necas hasnāt scored yet in this series. Cale Makar has just one goal. Each of the Avsā three biggest stars has one point through three games.
And thatās fine.
Itās fine when you have Artturi Lehkonen scoring two goals and adding an assist. Itās fine because Gabe Landeskog has two goals. Logan OāConnor has a big goal, as does Nic Roy. When you have this kind of depth, youāre not overly reliant on your top three stars. And thatās precisely what Chris MacFarland has spent the better part of the last 18 months building.
He built this a year ago, but it was put together too little too late. The move he made last year fueled a Presidentsā Trophy finish in this yearās regular season. Adding Roy and at the deadline filled the final holes. The team has chemistry, and pretty much everyone is already under contract for the upcoming season.
The Colorado Avalanche are currently leading their playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings 3-0.
The Avalanche have shifted to a more balanced offensive attack, reducing the ice time of top players like Nathan MacKinnon.
The Avalanche defeated the Kings 4-2 in their latest game, contributing to their series lead.
Nathan MacKinnon led the forwards with 19:30 of total ice time in the recent game against the Kings.

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That balanced attack is a large reason why Colorado has the L.A. Kings on the brink of elimination. There is no denying that.
1. The Kings are playing MacKinnon, Necas, and Makar harder than anyone else on the Avs. We saw Makar sort of break free from it a little bit on Thursday, and it was part of why he scored a beautiful goal and was drawing penalties with his speed. Iām sure weāll eventually get that from MacKinnon.
The problem for L.A. is, even if theyāve excelled at that, their depth hasnāt quite stepped up to match the Avsā.
2. Three of the Kingsā four goals in this series were scored on the power play. It was Artemi Panarin in Games 1 and 2, followed by Adrian Kempe in Game 3 on a play that was set up by Panarin. Their only even-strength goal was scored by second-line winger Trevor Moore. Theyāre not getting much help from anyone else.
That was part of the reason why Andrei Kuzmenko was inserted into the lineup. The winger finished with zeros across the board in 10:30 of ice time. His addition didnāt spark anything.
3. Bednar said after the game that Josh Manson is still being reevaluated for an upper-body injury. Manson didnāt play the tail end of the first period after taking a hit along the Kingsā bench from Joel Edmundson. He later returned several minutes into the second period, was on the ice when his team surrendered a goal, took a penalty, and that was it.
The team did not rule him out during the game, instead leaving his potential return up in the air. Iām not sure if thereās anything to read into that ā if it means his injury isnāt serious, if itās a little bit of playoff gamesmanship, or if, frankly, they just donāt know yet.
Losing him would sting. Thereās no doubt about that. But if there were ever a time for an injury, this might be the most ideal time. The Avs have two days off before playing Sunday afternoon. Perhaps thatās enough time for Manson to get back. If not, and if they win without him and complete the sweep, heāll have ample time to rest and recover before the second round (assuming itās not a long-term injury).
Even if Colorado falls in Game 4, itāll be another two days off before Game 5 at Ball Arena on Wednesday.
4. Speaking of extra time to rest, I wonder what a week between games could do for Kadri. The Avalancheās third-line center hasnāt taken a single faceoff in the playoffs. Heās left that to Landeskog and Roy whenever his line is out there.
Kadri missed the last part of the regular season after blocking a shot with his hand. Even when he returned to prepare for the postseason, heās had two fingers taped together. Thatās likely what has been keeping him from taking draws, and why heās not quite playing with that same jam weāre used to right now.
The playoffs are long. Any time off is a good thing. As Landeskog always used to say in 2022: Rest is a weapon.
5. When I saw Kadriās taped-up fingers in the dressing room at Family Sports last week, I asked him how he felt skating with that. He smiled and responded with, āWell, Iāve played through worse.ā
We all know what he was talking about.
6. Ross Colton finally entered the series after sitting the first two games. He took line rushes pregame and started the night with Brock Nelson and Valeri Nichushkin. But it looked like Bednar was pretty noncommittal with him keeping that spot permanently. At times, Parker Kelly still played with the second line. We even saw Landeskog play there.
Aside from Mansonās limited ice time because of an injury, Colton finished with a team-low 8:22. He played more minute at 5-on-5 than Jack Drury and Parker Kelly, but those guys also kill penalties.
7. My favorite stat of the night came from Natural Stat Trick.
The Los Angeles Kings were trailing for the entire 20 minutes of the third period. It was 2-1 coming in, 3-1 when Lehkonen scored shorthanded, and back to 3-2 when Kempe scored on the power play. Despite all of that, they had just two scoring chances and one high-danger at 5-on-5 in that entire period.
To put that into perspective, they had 10 and 9, respectively, through the first two periods, before Colorado locked it down in the third.
This is why the Avalanche were 41-0-0 in the regular season when leading at the second intermission. This is why theyāre already 2-0 in that same category in the postseason. This is the maturity of the club, and the message of committing to defense from Bednar that trickles down to the core and right through the lineup.
8. Still no playoff goals for the Avalanche in three games. They are 0-for-8.
No power-play goals, but the game-winner from Lehkonen on Thursday was scored shorthanded. Thatās the 2025-26 season in a nutshell.
9. Hat tip to Scott Wedgewood, who continues to be the reason why all of this is possible. Why itās fine that the stars havenāt scored yet, and the power play is still a work in progress. Why Colorado is winning games by one goal and is on the verge of sweeping the Los Angeles Kings.
He has been incredibly fun this year.
10. I always love the inner battle of a series when it comes to the home team getting last change. To start Games 1 and 2 at Ball Arena, D.J. Smith sent out the Quinton Byfield line, and Bednar countered with Nelsonās line.
In Game 3 in Los Angeles, Bednar got started with MacKinnon, Necas, and Lehkonen, but Smith sent out the Byfield line. And throughout at least the first period, Byfield was consistently playing against MacKinnon. It looks like Smith went into home-ice advantage with a strategy to get the Anze Kopitar line away from MacKinnon to see if it sparks some offense at 5-on-5.
It didnāt work.
The post 10 Takeaways: The Avalancheās Balanced Attack Is Fueling Their 3-0 Series Edge appeared first on Colorado Hockey Now.