Colorado started the game as the aggressors, outshooting Los Angeles 6-1 in the first three minutes and scoring a little more than three minutes into the contest. However, the Kings responded quickly and ended the period with a 15-9 edge in shots on goal.
The Avs had a chance to make it a 3-2 game at the start of the second period, but a Nathan MacKinnon shot hit the crossbar and the Kings scored their fourth of the night on the subsequent rush.
"They came at us and we just didn't seem to find an answer, and all of a sudden they were pretty opportunistic as well," said Gabriel Landeskog. "Obviously, scoring 4-1 at the start of the second period after we just hit the crossbar and things like that. That's a big point in the game, if we score off of Nate's crossbar there, one-goal game and things like that. But that's how small the details are at this point in the season, and for us it's just about regrouping."
The Kings' third goal came on the power play at the end of the first period and solidified the shift in momentum in L.A.'s favor.
"That penalty-kill goal is deflating," said Blake Comeau. "[The puck was] bouncing around a little bit, came up to Kopitar and he hit a wide-open net. I thought our power play moved it around a little bit the first couple power plays and maybe at the end there it wasn't our best, but our special teams have been pretty good all year, so that is just another area we got to clean up and I think everyone knows we will be better our next game."
The Avalanche was 1-for-2 on the penalty kill, just the ninth time Colorado has surrendered a power-play goal at home in 2017-18. The Avs are 107-for-116 (92.2 percent) in killing penalties on home ice, the top-ranked PK unit in the league.
"It just wasn't our best game tonight. I feel like after they got that second one, a little bit deflating, we didn't do a good job of answering," said Comeau. "They are a good team, a big physical team and they don't give up a whole lot. I liked our start, but not a lot we can take from this game. We have been pretty good as of late. Chalk this one up as a game where we just weren't our best and get ready for the next one."