Game 3 FINAL – Kings 2, Avalanche 4 – Byfield, Doughty, Smith

The LA Kings dropped a 4-2 decision in Game 3 on Thursday evening, falling behind three games to zero in the opening round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Colorado scored the first, first period goal of the series, with a wonky bounce putting the visitors ahead early. A shot from the point by forward Gabriel Landeskog missed the net wide, but a hard kick off the endboards came back, off the back of Kings goaltender Anton Forsberg’s skate and into the net. Landeskog’s goal was his second of the series, with the Avalanche pulling ahead 1-0 just shy of five and a half minutes into the game.

Just shy of six minutes into the second period, the Kings tied the game at one with their first 5-on-5 goal of the series. Attacking off the rush, forward Quinton Byfield fed a pass through the low slot, with forward Trevor Moore burying at the back post to equalize the game 1-1. With forward Alex Laferriere tallying the secondary assist, all three players on that line collected their second point of the series.

Midway through the second period, the Avalanche restored their one-goal advantage as defenseman Cale Makar scored his first goal of the series. Kings defenseman Drew Doughty turned the puck over behind his own net, which led to an offensive-zone shift for Colorado. The visitors worked the puck to Makar at the point and after he moved to the middle of the ice, he perfectly placed a shot past Forsberg and in for a 2-1 lead.

The Avalanche took a two-goal lead just shy of eight minutes into the third period, via a shorthanded goal. The Kings went with five forwards and a fanned one-timer led to a 2-on-1 rush for Colorado the other way. A pass through the slot by forward Artturi Lehkonen deflected off the skate of Kings forward Adrian Kempe and in, through legs of Forsberg, for a 3-1 lead.

Skating on a late-game power play, the Kings found the back of the net on the man advantage for the third straight game, cutting their deficit to one. Forward Artemi Panarin, from the top of the left circle, shot through traffic, with forward Adrian Kempe getting a deflection on the way through, past Colorado goaltender Scott Wedgewood and in, bringing the score to 3-2.

Inside the final few minutes of play, Colorado hit the empty net through forward Brock Nelson to secure the 4-2 victory. The Kings mistimed the goaltending pull, which led to a neutral-zone turnover, giving Nelson the space to hit the empty cage from distance.

Hear from Byfield, defenseman Drew Doughty and Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith following Game 3.

Quinton Byfield

Drew Doughty
On what more this team can do to get back into this series
We’ve got to keep doing a lot of the things that we are doing. Obviously, we’ve got to clean up giving up some of these chances that we’re giving up and we’d like to get more than two goals. We have one in the first two and two tonight. Unfortunately, against this team, I don’t think it’s enough.

On preventable goals against tonight
Yeah, definitely. I definitely thought some were avoidable, but that’s the way she goes sometimes. We’re not going to give up. We’ve still got another game at home and it’s a must win game, obviously, and we’re going to give it our all.

On what the Kings need to do to score more goals offensively
I don’t think we’re creating enough Grade-A chances on Wedgwood. He has played well, but they’re, statistically, one of the best teams in the neutral zone. So, for us to beat them, we’ve got to wear them down in the d-zone, make them tired and score goals that way. We haven’t done that enough.

On the approach to Sunday’s game, trailing 3-0 in the series
Yeah, exactly. Just one game, at home, must-win game. Everyone’s going to give everything they’ve got. Got to win that one and then hopefully get to go back to Denver.

D.J. Smith
On Game 3 and his takeaways from tonight’s game
We’ve got to find ways to score. I mean, we had looks. Give them credit, but we missed the net 13 times leading into the third period. Sometimes, you play real well for stretches, and it happens in the regular season, and you don’t get the results. Then, you’ll win a game that you don’t deserve to win. For us, I thought the first half of the game, we played them as hard and as good as we could and we probably didn’t get the results. Maybe we didn’t stay with it long enough, maybe they got a bit of a break on Makar’s goal, it’s a good player making a good play. Then in the third period, I thought we got away from the game plan the way we want to play, which is play fast, play North, play physical. I thought we started to build it and started to play slow and that plays into their hands.

On the lack of 5-on-5 scoring throughout the series
It’s the playoffs, it’s hard to score 5-on-5. I think if you look at the analytics and what we’re creating and what we created tonight, it’s a pretty big number. In the regular season, we were scoring a really, really good rate. We were getting those looks, we’re just not capitalizing. We had more o-zone time than they did tonight, that doesn’t happen very often, probably for them. We’re keeping pucks alive, give them credit, though. They’re a really good defensive team and we just haven’t found a way or maybe have that bounce to score some of those ugly goals. We’ve been there, we’ve had tips, Helenius had an unbelievable tip. Give Wedgewood a lot of credit. Both goalies in the series have been unbelievable. Give Wedgwood credit. I mean, this guy looks like he’s putting his name on the circuit as a big-time goalie. Now, they’ve got to beat us one more time.

On the decision to go with five forwards, leading to the shorthanded goal against
Our power play, I don’t know what the exact percentage is, but we’ve tried it all. We’ve had Clarkie at the top, we’ve had Juice at the top. I think part of it, going to the five forwards is, I think Quinton Byfield not being on the ice when the game is on the line, it plays into it. I think Q is as good a player in this series, when you’re covering both teams. I think he’s a big-time player. I think, when the game on the line, I’m not saying we’re going to do it every time and what the case may be, but I think he’s earned that right to be on it. Juice has also done good things at the top as well. So, you look at the results and say, okay, that’s what happened. Juice shoots in, we score, it’s great. But, I think a lot of it goes into, I think Byfield with the game on the line sometimes needs to be out there.

On another tight game and the plan going into a must-win Game 4
I think both teams are really good defensively, that’s what I think. I think they’ve been a little more opportunistic than us with their chances. Honestly, the first two periods tonight are probably our best of the series, as physical as we could be within the rules and creating stuff. Our fourth line was all over. I mean, they had scoring chances, they finished checks, they created momentum. There was a lot of good things to like. You don’t like the result and it’s tough to swallow, but I can tell you that we’ll be prepared and then those guys will be ready to play. Now, we’ve got to look at it, probably make a few changes, and see if we can spark something.

The Kings will return to the ice for practice on Saturday, April 25 at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center, in advance of Game 4 on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 PM.