Scoring had been hard to come by for the Avalanche in the first two games against Los Angeles, with their first goals not coming until the second and third period, respectively. Game Three was a different story, as a shot from Gabe Landeskog ricocheted off the end boards before bouncing off the skate of goaltender Anton Forsberg early in the first period to give the Avs the lead. Los Angeles would tie the game with a bounce of their own off Trevor Moore in the second period, but Cale Makar’s first goal of the playoffs restored the lead. A shorthanded goal from Artturi Lehkonen would give the Avs some breathing room in the third, but a power play goal for Los Angeles would make things interesting late. Brock Nelson would cap off the night with an empty net goal to secure a 3-0 series lead to wrap up a game that featured more end to end action for both teams. Scott Wedgewood stopped twenty-four of twenty-six shots for his third consecutive playoff win.
Despite Game Three being more wide open, it still featured plenty of physical play throughout. After a hard hit from Kings defenseman Joel Edmundson into the boards at the Los Angeles bench late in the first period, Josh Manson would play sparsely in the second period before missing the remainder of the game. Head coach Jared Bednar said yesterday that Manson was “sore” and “unlikely” to be in the lineup for today’s game. When pressed for a further opinion on Manson’s status yesterday, he said, “We don’t know how long he’s going to be [unavailable] yet, so it’s hard to say. […] I won’t have a timeline. I don’t have a timeline. We’ll just take it day by day, and see how he’s feeling, and go from there.”
Manson’s absence opens the door for Nick Blankenburg to step into the lineup for the first postseason appearance of his career. While Blankenburg is certainly capable of physical defensive play in his own right, it would be a pretty tall task to elevate his physicality to that of playoff Manson having never skated in playoff situations before. “We need him to be solid defensively,” Bednar explained. “He’s perfectly capable of coming into our system and being a responsible, defensive player and helping us move the puck out of the zone and into the offensive zone—what we expect from all of our D—anything he can add beyond that is a bonus. […] I feel good about the option we have in [Blankenburg] coming into the lineup and being able to help us. It’s why I’m glad we got him a bunch of games down the stretch. It hasn’t been that long [since he’s played], so he’s been in all the meetings, and he should be in tune with what we’re trying to do here for Game Four.”
Game Three also marked the return of Ross Colton to the Avalanche lineup. When asked about what he’s looking for out of Colton, Bednar said, “Hungry game from [Colton], I felt. Committed, played with great urgency and determination in the game, made his presence felt on the forecheck, and created a couple of really dangerous scoring chances for himself, for his linemates. He added an element of physicality and speed to our game, so I was happy with his game. Again, it is really hard to create offense, but he did a nice job in his time to help us do that, and help the second line.”
It should be noted that Colton had 8:22 of ice time in Game Three, the lowest total ice time among all forwards. Jack Drury (9:26) and Parker Kelly (9:31) were the only other forwards that had fewer than ten minutes of total ice time in Game Three.
The Avs had an extra day of rest coming into today’s game, which could provide some extra spark for them to utilize their speed to help create more offensive opportunities. As has been the case throughout the series, those opportunities won’t come easy, and with Los Angeles on the brink of elimination, they will throw everything they can at the Avs to slow down them down as much as possible. Elimination games are difficult to win, and the Avs have not closed out an opponent to advance in the postseason since eliminating the Winnipeg Jets in the first round back in 2024. A win today would give the Avs some valuable rest before the start of the second round, especially since their next playoff opponent in either Dallas or Minnesota will now be forced to play no fewer than six games in their first round series.
Coming into today’s game, both Landeskog and Lehkonen share the team lead in scoring at two goals apeice, while Lehkonen leads the team in playoff points with three. While there might be some concern in the lack of production from the likes of Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Nečas, which had been a staple for the Avs during the regular season, the Avs have also returned the favor on the defensive side of their game as well, having limited the Kings to four total goals across three games. When addressing the media yesterday on his opinion on the low offensive output to this point in the series, Nečas said, “It would be a different story if we’re not scoring much and maybe down 2-1 or something like that, but being 3-nothing up, with not scoring many goals, I think we’re pretty comfortable, and it honestly feels almost better.”
Given Wedgewood’s solid performance in this series, expect him to start in goal today as he looks to earn his first playoff series win.
What do you do if you’re the Los Angeles Kings coming into today’s game? The League’s most potent offense, featuring the current Rocket Richard winner in Nathan MacKinnon—who hasn’t scored a goal during this postseason—has been held to eight total goals. The power play has found success in three straight games. The penalty kill has been flawless. Anton Forsberg has been solid. Artemi Panarin has been the primary driver on offense, which is what General Manager Ken Holland was banking on when he made the trade for him.
The ingredients for playoff success are there, and what’s been the end result? An elimination game scenario on your own ice after three consecutive losses to start the postseason.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs giveth, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs taketh away.
Despite the defense limiting Colorado’s high-powered offense to this point in the series, Colorado’s defense has returned the favor in spades. Los Angeles has only led for a total of 3:21 throughout the entire series. That primary offensive driver in Panarin scored power play goals in both Game One and Game Two, but was limited to a single assist in Game Three. Adrian Kempe and Trevor Moore have one goal each. Quinton Byfield and Alex Laferriere have registered only two assists. That same power play gave up a shorthanded goal late in Game Three, which proved to be the game-winner.
In addressing the media yesterday, head coach D.J. Smith said, “We just got to play our best game one time, and then we’ll worry about the next game, but we have to find a way to score more while playing the exact same defense. Is it hard? Yes. Are we going to give it everything we got? Yes. I think you’re going to see our best game of the series.”
For Smith’s roster, an unlucky bounce led to Forsberg kicking the puck into his own goal early in the first period, and with Forsberg on the bench for the empty net late in the third, a neutral zone turnover by Anže Kopitar flipped a potential game tying scenario into the final nail in the coffin and a 0-3 series deficit. While luck can hardly be accounted for in any situation, outcomes like that have the potential to make or break a series.
For Los Angeles, they face the latter. “I think the game plan is correct,” Smith said. “I just think that you want more results, and let’s see if we get them in Game Four, but there’s nothing to feel bad about. I think our team plays hard, I think we’re organized and we’re detailed. We just probably should at least have one win, and we’re probably feeling different, so I like everything everyone’s done.”
The phrase, “There is no tomorrow” holds even more significance ahead of today’s game. “Right now, we’ve got nothing to lose,” Kopitar said in comments to the media yesterday. “It’s focusing tomorrow on the start, having a good start, and just go from there. To think what’s going to happen in a couple of days, or four days or five days from now, there’s really no need for that. It’s just staying in the moment, go down there tomorrow, and play our asses off, and see where that takes us.”
When asked if he was prepared for Game Four to be his last game, Kopitar said, “I hope it’s not going to be [my last game]. Can you ever be emotionally prepared? Probably not, so we’ll see.”
Those sound like words of someone who, rather than playing like he has nothing to lose, feels exactly the opposite.