3 Things to Watch: Avalanche at Kings, Game 3 of Western Conference 1st Round

(1C) Colorado Avalanche at (2WC) Los Angeles Kings

Western Conference First Round, Game 3

Colorado leads best-of-7 series 2-0

10 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, FDSNSC, truTV, TNT, ALT, SN360, SN, TVAS

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Kings hope being back at Crypto.com Arena helps turn things around for them against the Colorado Avalanche when the Western Conference First Round best-of-7 series moves to California.

The Kings trail in the series despite each game being tightly contested. Colorado has won each game 2-1, Game 1 coming down to the final minutes in regulation while Game 2 needed overtime. 

"Hockey's so close and night to night, you win by a goal, lose by a goal. We've done that all year," Kings interim coach D.J. Smith said. "If you look at those first two games, it's a group that's checking, that's playing together. We haven't maybe had some bounces but that's the kind of game you can win with.

"Other than a few games I think we look the same every night. That's a testament to the guys and how they're digging in. Now maybe just have a little more confidence at home with the puck, but you can't forget the style of play that we're playing."

The Avalanche haven't been their usual high-scoring selves, but they've found ways to get enough. The Kings will get the last change now, and the Avalanche will adjust accordingly.

"It's going to depend on what they want to do and what they've seen. We monitor all of our matchups at home and how they're going. I didn't have any tight matchups for either of our two home games. I look at Game 1 and (Nathan) MacKinnon played against (Quinton) Byfield, he played against (Anze) Kopitar, he played against all three of their 'D' pairs," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. 

"Every one of our lines hit the ice against all four of their lines and some of our numbers look good, some we'd like to improve. We have to just monitor and see what D.J. wants to do with his matchups on the road and if we have to try to work away from them, we will. If we're comfortable with them, then we'll just go play."

Teams that take a 3-0 lead in a best-of-7 series have an all-time series record of 209-4 (98.1 percent).

Here are three things to watch in Game 3:

1. Wedgewood continuing to shine

Let's preface this by saying both goaltenders have been great in the first two games. But Scott Wedgewood has been there to shut things down when the Kings have tried to get the equalizer. The 33-year-old is 2-0 with a 0.94 goals-against average and .960 save percentage in the first two Stanley Cup Playoff starts of his career. He can become the first goaltender in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history to earn a win in each of his first three career playoff starts. The only other goaltender to win each of his first three starts with the Avalanche is Jose Theodore, who won his first three in 2006.

Coach Jared Bednar has said that he'll have no problem going back and forth between Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood, as he did in the regular season. But for now, it ain't broke, so no need to fix it.

2. Kuzmenko back?

There was no confirmation, but Kings forward Andrei Kuzmenko skated on the third line and was part of their power-play work on Thursday. The 30-year-old last played on Feb. 25 and missed the final 25 games of the regular season because of surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Kuzmenko had 25 points (13 goals, 12 assists) in 52 games, including eight power-play goals. If he's back, he could boost the Kings' offense.

"Offensively, a really talented player," Kings forward Adrian Kempe said of Kuzmenko. "Obviously we saw, what he did last year when he came in late in the season and what he did in the playoffs as well. Big threat on the power play so yeah, if he's good to go, really offensively talented guy that definitely could help us on the power play."

3. No power-play concerns

The Avalanche have gone 0-for-7 on the power play through the first two games. Disappointing? Sure, but they aren't worried that they haven't cashed in on it yet.

"I think we're exploring some things out there, and I think we've created some chances. It's just that little finishing touch," captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "I think our execution has been good, for the most part and then obviously it was interrupted by us taking penalties. That's kind of been the theme for the first two games of the series, really.

"So as a group in general tonight, we've got to make sure we're staying out of the box just for the rhythm of our game 5-on-5 but also as a power-play unit. I think we're right there."

Avalanche projected lineup

Artturi Lehkonen -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Martin Necas

Parker Kelly -- Brock Nelson -- Valeri Nichushkin

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nazem Kadri -- Nicolas Roy

Ross Colton -- Jack Drury -- Logan O'Connor

Devon Toews -- Cale Makar

Brett Kulak -- Sam Malinski

Josh Manson -- Brent Burns

Scott Wedgewood

Mackenzie Blackwood

Scratched: Joel Kiviranta, Nick Blankenburg, Zakhar Bardakov

Injured: None

Kings projected lineup

Artemi Panarin -- Anze Kopitar -- Adrian Kempe

Trevor Moore -- Quinton Byfield -- Alex Laferriere

Joel Armia -- Scott Laughton -- Andrei Kuzmenko

Jeff Malott -- Samuel Helenius -- Jared Wright

Mikey Anderson -- Drew Doughty

Joel Edmundson -- Brandt Clarke

Brian Dumoulin -- Cody Ceci

Anton Forsberg

Darcy Kuemper

Scratched: Alex Turcotte, Mathieu Joseph, Jacob Moverare, Taylor Ward

Injured: Kevin Fiala (fractured leg)

Status report

Colton could play for the Avalanche, but Bednar would not confirm any lineup changes. … Wright moved to the fourth line, and Joseph could be scratched if Kuzmenko returns, but Smith would not confirm any lineup changes.