Avalanche spreading wealth on offense vs. Kings

LOS ANGELES -- Nathan MacKinnon is looking for his first goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. So is fellow Colorado Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri. Defenseman Cale Makar got his first goal of the postseason on Thursday.

Concerning? Nope, not one iota. One of the Avalanche’s biggest assets is their depth and that’s been evident against the Los Angeles Kings in the first three games of their Western Conference First Round series. And it’s what has them on the verge of a sweep.

Six different players have scored a goal and 12 have gotten on the scoresheet for the Avalanche, who will look to keep spreading the wealth against the Kings in Game 4 at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday (4:30 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, FDSNSC, truTV, TNT, ALT, TVAS2, SNP, SNW, SN360).

The Avalanche are up 3-0 on the Kings, the eighth time in their history they’ve led a best-of-7 series by that margin. The Avalanche advanced in four games the past three times they’ve been up 3-0: in the first round against the St. Louis Blues in 2021 and in the first round (Nashville Predators) and conference final (Edmonton Oilers) in 2022, the year they won the Stanley Cup.

“It says a lot. And I also think it's pretty common in playoffs,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said of the balanced scoring. “You’ve got top guys going against top guys, highly committed on the defensive side of it, especially when you're talking about a series like this, where it's low-scoring series. Any line, when you're kind of matching them up, both lines can get shut down a little bit. I think you're seeing that on both sides, so then you just got to keep going through your roster.

“If you're tying a lot of matchups, you got to find a way to win one to make the difference. We've done that to this point in the series, and 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 make the difference.”

The Avalanche’s top line of left wing Artturi Lehkonen, center MacKinnon and right wing Martin Necas are getting some points. Lehkonen leads the Avalanche with three points (two goals, one assist) while MacKinnon and Necas each have an assist through three games. The three were held in check on 5-on-5 play in Game 3 (Lehkonen had a shorthanded goal) thanks to the work of the Kings’ line of left wing Trevor Moore, center Quinton Byfield and right wing Alex Laferriere, who went up against the Avalanche’s top trio.

“I think (Byfield’s) line has been outstanding in the series, and they score last night and they hold them to nothing,” Kings coach D.J. Smith said. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to do your job and all you can do is ask each line to do their job. I’ll talk to each line individually, and if you didn’t think you had a good game, you’ve got to have one now. Q’s line has been outstanding throughout the series.”

Four Avalanche players have two points each: captain Gabriel Landeskog (two goals), forward Nicolas Roy (one goal, one assist) and defensemen Josh Manson and Devon Toews (two assists each). Forward Brock Nelson got his first playoff goal with the Avalanche when he scored an empty-netter on Thursday. He had four assists in seven games with them last postseason.

“That’s how you’re going to win this time of year,” said Landeskog, the Avalanche captain, whose second goal of the series came at 5:29 of the first period on Thursday. “Points have never really been relevant, especially not in the postseason. We’re doing it as a group. Those guys are checking like dogs and working really hard at both ends of the rink. That’s the way it’s going to have to be for us to win.”

The Avalanche get a little bit of everything from everyone on their roster. It’s not just that the top line is solely expected to score, the third line only has to check or the fourth line that only has to muck it up. But yes, guys like MacKinnon and Makar are leaned on more for that offense, given their talent and superstar status. It’s only a matter of time before they start putting up the numbers for which they’re known.

Take Makar’s goal in Game 3 that came with plenty of traffic in front of Kings goalie Anton Forsberg. 

“There’s going to be plenty of opportunities, plays that are going to have to be made, and those guys will make them,” Landeskog said. “You see some of that tonight (Game 3). Cale doesn’t score if Nate and Lehky (Lehkonen) aren’t in front of the net. Those are plays that aren’t going to show up on the score sheet but are super important this time of year.”