FINAL – Kings 4, Avalanche 8 – Anderson, Haula, Laviolette

The LA Kings opened the 2026-27 season with an 8-4 defeat on Wednesday evening against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena in Denver.

The Avalanche opened the scoring with a power-play goal 6:33 into the game, to take an early 1-0 lead. The Kings killed off the bulk of their first penalty of the season, but the Colorado second unit struck late. A centering feed by Jaden Schwartz missed its intended target but forward Brock Nelson collected the pass at the back post and finished from a tight angle, putting the hosts ahead 1-0 early.

Los Angeles tied the game at one late in the first period, as defenseman Brian Dumoulin scored the first Kings goal of the season. Forward Alex Laferriere drew a pair of defenders to him, as he rounded the net with possession, before he exchanged the puck with Dumoulin at the point. Dumoulin walked into the left-hand circle and ripped a shot past Colorado goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood and in for the 1-1 score.

After the Kings were unable to convert on their second power play of the game, Colorado went the other way, 2-on-1, to take a one-goal lead into the first intermission. After Drew Doughty’s point shot was deflected off the glass, the Avalanche rimmed another deflected puck out of the zone, springing forward Parker Kelly down the right wing. Kelly kept the puck himself and beat Darcy Kuemper to put the hosts ahead 2-1, a goal that came at even strength, three seconds after the expiration of the penalty.

Colorado won the opening faceoff in the second period and went to work, with a 5-on-3 power play that had carried over from the first. Forward Nazem Kadri, operating down low, below the goal line, fed a seam pass to forward Nathan MacKinnon in the left-hand circle and the Colorado forward hammered a one-timer past Kuemper and in, putting the hosts ahead by a pair.

Kings forward Joel Armia pulled the goal back almost immediately, however, as he scored a shorthanded tally to bring the visitors within 3-2. Armia made a nice move to get into the neutral zone and after the play broke up a bit, he regained possession and used a toe drag at the offensive blueline to enter the attacking end. From the high slot, he beat Blackwood clean with a wrist shot, his first goal of the season, as the Kings pulled back to one down.

Midway through the second period, MacKinnon scored his second goal of the evening to put the Avalanche back ahead by a pair. MacKinnon and forward Martin Necas crossed over in the neutral zone, before gaining the offensive blue line with possession. Necas dropped the puck into MacKinnon’s wheelhouse and he buried the goal, high glove side, for the 4-2 advantage.

Late in the middle frame, Colorado extended its lead to three goals, as forward Nicolas Roy got in on the scoring. Kuemper made the initial save and Avalanche forward Jaden Schwartz was right in the crease on the rebound, but appeared to be pushed, and ultimately wound up behind Kuemper in the crease. Roy buried the rebound from close range with just under four minutes to play for a 5-2 lead.

Again, the Kings bounced back with a shorthanded goal, this time off the stick of forward Trevor Moore, to pull within a pair once again. After defenseman Mikey Anderson deflected the puck high in the air, Moore was first to react, resulting in a 2-on-1 rush the other direction. He kept the puck himself and beat Blackwood clean with a shot in transition, the second Los Angeles shorthanded marker of the game, to make it 5-3.

On the same power play, however, Colorado converted to restore the three-goal advantage heading into the second intermission. Forward Artturi Lehkonen found a soft spot inside the Kings on the penalty kill and forward Brock Nelson picked him out with a touch pass, which Lehkonen buried from between the circles for a 6-3 lead through 40 minutes.

The Kings opened the scoring in the third period, capitalizing on a 6-on-5 situation with a delayed penalty. Forward Artemi Panarin was the extra attacker over the boards as the Kings held possession in the offensive zone. Defenseman Drew Doughty worked the puck to Panarin in the slot and he beat Blackwood through traffic from distance to bring the visitors within 6-4.

Following the Panarin goal, MacKinnon and Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke dropped the gloves in the Los Angeles defensive zone. MacKinnon slashed Clarke around the ankles and threw his helmet after the fight, both uncalled penalties, which would have put the Kings on a power play down by a pair.

Instead, Colorado scored the final two goals of the game, a power-play goal and one at even strength, to arrive at the final score of 8-4. Gabriel Landeskog scored a 5-on-5 goal, shortly before the final media timeout and Lehkonen added his second power-play goal of the game, Colorado’s fourth, to bring the game to a close.

Hear from Anderson, Haula and Head Coach Peter Laviolette after tonight’s defeat.

Mikey Anderson

Erik Haula
On his assessment of tonight’s defeat
I think that’s a really tough one to assess. I think we took a little step back from the last preseason game. We were pretty solid defensively [against Anaheim]. I think we took a step forward offensively. It’s just, against that team, when you take that many penalties and make mistakes like that, they can really make you pay, and they sure did today. Offensively, on the road, when you score four goals, you like your chances most nights.

On the penalty kill tonight and where he felt the largest breakdowns were
It’s hard to say. Like you said, there’s four of them, so we’ll take a couple days here and look them over and try to correct them. The last one, obviously, a tough bounce right on their tape. Good players made good plays. It’s just hard to assess right now, but we’ll take a look.

On if he feels there is still a learning curve with the team’s new systems
No, we’re not going to use that as an excuse. I think we have a pretty good idea how we’re supposed to play. When you give up eight, it’s just not good enough. We’ll go back, correct some things, and be better next game.

Peter Laviolette
On his takeaways from an opening-night defeat
The first two periods, I thought there was good things. We did enough to not have the lead, things that we need to clean up from staying out of the penalty box, specialty teams, 5-on-5 play. We can’t give them that much off the rush, it’s going to catch you if you do.

On where he felt the largest breakdowns were on the penalty kill
I think we left the middle open a little bit too much at times, the middle of the ice. A couple of them were fortuitous bounced, where they blocked it and it ends up on somebody’s stick. Again, just details inside of that. The 5-on-5, the special teams, just details, I think can be better both.

On his assessment of where the team is at with new concepts & systems
I think that there were things that we did well and I think that there’s things that we need to clean up and do better. I felt like a lot of the things that we gave them tonight were our responsibility. There are things that can be in our control, staying out of the penalty box, the execution of what we’re doing, staying behind the rush, get chances to score offensively, and we can connect on them. We found ourselves chasing the game most of the night.

On what he felt the Kings were able to create offensively throughout the night
I didn’t like the way we started the third period, it seemed like we lost our steam a little bit, but I thought in the first two periods, there was things that we did well 5-on-5 and I thought that there was things that we didn’t do well that gave them opportunities. There’s a clear line of when we’re attacking and when we need to defend and we didn’t recognize that line very well at times. There’s a few things. So, we’ll go back and we’ll take a look at it.

Notes –
– Defenseman Brian Dumoulin (1-0=1) scored the Kings’ first goal of the 2026-27 campaign. Dumoulin is the seventh defenseman to score the first goal of a season in Kings history, joining Gilles Marotte (1971-72), Garry Galley (2x: 1986-87, 1997-98), Mark Hardy (1987-88), Paul Coffey (1992-93), Rob Scuderi (2012-13), and Drew Doughty (2013-14).
– Forward Joel Armia (1-0=1) scored his first goal of the season, marking his 22nd career shorthanded goal and his second consecutive regular-season matchup against Colorado with such a tally (Dec. 29, 2025). Armia is the first player to score shorthanded in two consecutive visits to Colorado since Mike Modano did so on Dec. 3, 1995, and Dec. 29, 1996.
– Armia is now tied with Sebastian Aho (22 SHG) for the third most shorthanded goals by a player of Finnish nationality, trailing only Esa Tikkanen (29 SHG) and Jari Kurri (39 SHG). Among all active players, only Brad Marchand (36 SHG) and Jean- Gabriel Pageau (24 SHG) have more, per NHL PR.
– Forward Trevor Moore (1-0=1) added the Kings second shorthanded tally of the evening, marking the first season-opening game in franchise history to feature multiple shorthanded goals. Tonight’s game marked just the 16th occasion in League history where a team has struck twice on the Penalty Kill in their season debut since the NHL began tracking special teams goals in 1933-34.
– Winger Artemi Panarin (1-0=1) scored his first goal of the year, his 10th career goal and 26th point (10-16=26) in 27 games played against the Colorado Avalanche.
– Forward Alex Laferriere (0-2=2) earned his 16th career multi-point game with a pair of assists tonight at Ball Arena.
– Forward Alex Turcotte (0-1=1) collected his first career point against Colorado on Dumoulin’s tally.
– In his debut with the team, forward Erik Haula (0-1=1) earned his first point as a member of the Kings with a primary assist on Armia’s tally. Haula and Armia are both natives of Pori, Finland, and skated on a line together for Team Finland in the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan Cortina this past February.
– Defenseman Cody Ceci (0-1=1) collected his first assist of the season with a secondary helper on Armia’s goal.
– Defenseman Mikey Anderson (0-1=1) picked up his first assist of the year with the lone helper on Moore’s tally.
– Captain Drew Doughty (0-1=1) picked up an assist in tonight’s contest and is now underway with his 19th season with the Kings, passing longtime teammate Dustin Brown (18) for the second most with in franchise history behind Anze Kopitar (20).

The Kings have a scheduled day off tomorrow and will return to the ice for practice on Friday, October 2 at 11 AM at Toyota Sports Performance Center.