DENVER – The Colorado Avalanche are aiming for their second Stanley Cup championship since 2021-22, but the Los Angeles Kings are looking to play spoiler beginning with Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round at Ball Arena on Sunday.
The Avalanche and Kings last played on March 2, a 4-2 win for Colorado. At that point, D.J. Smith was in his first game as Los Angeles’ interim coach after coach Jim Hiller was fired on March 1.
But Avalanche coach Jared Bednar is expecting a different Kings team.
“They’re more dangerous offensively than they were before. I’m sure some of that is coached into the team and I also think the addition of a guy like (Artemi) Panarin, who has over a point a game since joining the team,” he said of the forward, who the Kings acquired from the New York Rangers on Feb. 4 and played his first game with Los Angeles on Feb. 25 following the 2026 Winter Olympic break.
Panarin has 27 points (nine goals, 18 assists) in 26 games with Los Angeles.
“The restructuring of their lines since that addition, (Adrian) Kempe, (Anze) Kopitar and Panarin together is a dangerous line. They have their guys slotted. They’ve been a stingy defensive team all year, but on the offensive side of things, since the Olympic break, last 10 games, maybe more, they become even more dangerous offensively. It’s a team that’s played really well since that change, since the break, since the addition of Panarin.”
The Kings, meanwhile, aren’t expecting much different from what the Avalanche have been all season.
“I mean, they won the Presidents’ Trophy (for the best regular-season record) for a reason. They have, how many Olympians on their team? And everybody’s picked them to win. That’s fine,” Smith said. “You have to manage when they really take over a game and limit that to shorter periods, rather than have it carry on shift after shift.
“Someone’s got to go out there, and have a good shift and stop it. And let’s be honest, we’re going to have to have some guys play outside their comfort zone. We’re going to have to have some guys outperform, maybe what they are and that’s what has to happen for teams to knock off a Presidents’ Trophy winner. You need a special performance by one, two, maybe three guys for two weeks, and we got guys in that room that can do it.”
Teams that take a 1-0 lead in a best-of-7 series have an all-time series record of 535-252 (.680), including a 10-5 (.667) mark in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs (6-2, .750 in 2025 Eastern and Western Conference First Rounds).
