Avalanche take Game 1

Colorado opened its first-round series by beating Los Angeles 2-1 on Sunday at Ball Arena, with Scott Wedgewood stopping 24 shots in his first Stanley Cup playoff start. (nhl.com) Artturi Lehkonen scored at 15:29 of the second period, Logan O’Connor added the winner at 5:50 of the third, and Artemi Panarin got Los Angeles on the board with a power-play goal at 17:38 of the third. (hockey-reference.com) Anton Forsberg made 28 saves in his own playoff debut for the Kings, but Colorado finished with 30 shots to Los Angeles’ 25 and held the one-goal lead through the final minutes. (apnews.com) The matchup opened with a gap in regular-season résumés. Colorado finished atop the Central Division and won the Presidents’ Trophy with 121 points, while Los Angeles reached the field as a Western Conference wild card. (usatoday.com) That made Game 1 a test of whether the Kings could slow a Colorado team that scored 300 goals in the regular season. Instead, the Avalanche won a tighter game, with O’Connor scoring his first goal in more than a year and Wedgewood carrying the finish. (nhl.com) (espn.com) Colorado also made a notable choice in net before puck drop. Coach Jared Bednar said Sunday morning that Wedgewood would start Game 1, and the veteran answered by turning aside 24 of 25 shots. (denverpost.com) (nhl.com) The Kings nearly erased the deficit late after Brock Nelson’s high-sticking penalty put Colorado shorthanded with 2:57 left. Panarin scored 35 seconds later, but Los Angeles could not find the tying goal before the horn. (hockey-reference.com) Game 1 gave Colorado a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, and it gave the Avalanche the kind of low-scoring opener playoff teams usually take without argument. (nhl.com)