Better Nate than never.
With 2:21 to go in the second period Sunday at Crypto.com Arena, Nathan MacKinnon’s sweetest shot of No Kings Day in Los Angeles — a 5-1 Avalanche rout — led with a shoulder instead of a stick.
As the Avalanche defended a 2-1 lead, the leading scorer in the NHL took a series worth of low blows, high blows, late blows, early blows, fast blows and slow blows out on Kings defenseman Brian Dumoulin.
When Dumoulin entered the offensive zone with the puck, Nate Dogg got his bite back. The fastest forward on the ice and leading scorer in the NHL picked up speed as he prepped to meet the Los Angeles defender at the blue line.
In an afternoon of little statement moments for the Avs, that one spoke volumes. Ride his back. Chop at his legs. Jab at his ribs. Poke at his face. Just know this, if you’re a Dallas or Minnesota defender: No. 29’s taking names. And keeping receipts.
“I think it’s a hungry group, inspired group,” captain Gabriel Landeskog opined to TNT after the sweep. “We just know what we want to do.”
Cup or bust, kids. it’s more fun, of course, on the nights when Nate The Great busts out. Nova Scotia’s shooting star was a Halifax Hammer in Game 4 — over nearly 18 minutes of ice time, the Avs forward collected two goals (his first of the series); three points; a power-play goal (!); one helper; two hits; two blocks and a dozen wins via the face-off draw on 14 attempts.
Given hindsight and an ice pack, a 4-0 series sweep turned into a nice, physical tune-up for the battles to come. More importantly, though, Colorado-L.A. was over with quick enough for everybody in burgundy to rest up for the main event.
The Avs now await the winner of a Stars-Wild series tied at 2-2 as of Sunday afternoon. It’ll be stunning if the battle between the NHL’s second-best and third-best squads doesn’t go the full seven. After all the extracurriculars MacKinnon received over a week of tussles with the K.O. Kings, it’ll be nice to watch two other franchises try to beat one another up.
Everybody took a dip on the chippy side Sunday. As the first intermission loomed, the Kings’ Joel Edmundson clubbed Cale Makar late, and the mild-mannered defender was heated enough to chicken-wing Edmundson with a high elbow before the horn sounded.
About 5:40 into the second stanza, Makar got his payback, bringing the dangle and the dagger. He ducked and weaved around his defender at the right faceoff dot, forcing Kings winger Taylor Ward to play catch-up. Hail Cale finished with a nifty wrister that beat Anton Forsberg top shelf for a 2-0 lead that more or less clinched the Avs’ first Stanley Cup Playoff series sweep, and first opening-round series sweep, since 2022 — the last time Colorado won the Cup.
“I thought this series against the Kings was a good test for us,” Landeskog reflected to TNT. “It was tight. It was hard. It was a good series for us.”
It was brief — which might have been the most important thing, given Los Angeles’ propensity to goon it up. Because once the Avs had snatched a 1-0 lead, the Kings clearly preferred to dance than skate.
With 2:02 left in the first, the Avs’ fourth line snapped. And retaliated. Los Angeles enforcer Jeff Malott lit the fuse when the 6-foot-5 forward shoved Colorado’s 5-9 defender Nick Blankenburg after the whistle. Avs forward Chris Drury butted in to defend his teammate, knowing full well his roster was down a D-man with Josh Manson scratched. The cage match turned into a group scrum when another of the Kings’ big uglies, 6-6 Samuel Helenius, threw a punch at Parker Kelly. That swing drew a 10-minute misconduct penalty and an Avs power play to end the stanza.
Staring at both elimination and Anze Kopitar’s retirement, the Kings brought a desperate look from the jump. Over the first nine minutes, the Avs were outhit 7-2 and outshot 6-2. Goaltender Scott Wedgewood and a friendly post were the only two things keeping the hosts off the board. In a run of six saves over the opening 12 minutes, three on the Kings’ power play, Wedgie’s sweetest might have come 90 seconds in, when he turned away a Cody Ceci slap shot and stopped a point-blank rebound wrister by Scott Laughton.
Wedgewood, meanwhile, kept the Avs out front early and late in the second period.
With 17:51 left in the stanza, the 33-year-old spread-eagled to turn away Jared Wright wrister and two more Ceci looks down low with flailing, octopus arms. With 5:14 to go and the Avs clinging to a 2-1 cushion, Wedgewood drew a snow angel in the crease, sliding on his back to stone Scott Laughton's stabbing attempts.
Having endured the adrenaline rush at the outset, Colorado finally broke the ice on two fronts with 6:47 to go in the opening frame — notching the first power-play goal of the series and initial goal of the postseason for MacKinnon.
The visitors' opening tally with the extra man, coming after an 0-for-9 start on the power play, was almost how Avs faithful would've drawn it up. Landeskog, camped near the net, passed back to Nazem Kadri at the right face-off circle. The Colorado veteran turned left and shifted the biscuit from his circle to the other, where an open MacKinnon had space cleared to fire by Necas crashing the post.
Nate Dogg cocked his stick back and fired a video-game-perfect one-timer past Forsberg for a 1-0 Avs lead. Yet his second shot of the day, the one that turned Dumoulin into Artemis II, left the deepest mark. And the loudest message.
