Avalanche edge closer
- The Colorado Avalanche beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 in Game 3 on April 23, taking a 3-0 first-round series lead. - Cale Makar scored the tiebreaking goal, Artturi Lehkonen added a short-handed goal, and Scott Wedgewood stopped 24 shots in Los Angeles. - Colorado is now one win from a sweep, and betting markets shortened the Avalanche to +240 Stanley Cup favorites on April 24. (sports.yahoo.com)
Colorado beat Los Angeles 4-2 on Thursday night, pushing the Kings to the brink and moving within one win of the second round. (nhl.com) (espn.com) The Avalanche lead the best-of-seven series 3-0 after wins in Denver on April 19 and April 21, then another in Los Angeles on April 23. Game 4 is set for Sunday, April 26, at Crypto.com Arena. (espn.com) (nhl.com) Gabriel Landeskog opened the scoring 5:29 into the first period, Cale Makar broke a 1-1 tie in the second, and Artturi Lehkonen scored short-handed in the third. Brock Nelson sealed it with an empty-net goal after Adrian Kempe cut the deficit to one on a Kings power play. (espn.com) Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves, and Colorado won despite being outshot 26-23 and outhit 32-24. The Avalanche also won 58.5% of faceoffs, a key edge in a game the Kings pushed hard early. (espn.com) (denverpost.com) The series has tilted quickly because Colorado entered the playoffs as the West’s top seed after a 55-16-11 regular season. Los Angeles arrived as a wild-card team at 35-27-20 and now has no margin left. (espn.com) (hockey-reference.com) Betting markets reacted after Game 3. Yahoo Sports, citing BET99 odds posted April 24, listed Colorado at +240 to win the Stanley Cup, shortened from +255 a day earlier, with Carolina next at +325 after taking its own 3-0 series lead. (sports.yahoo.com) That leaves Los Angeles facing elimination Sunday against a Colorado team that has allowed only five goals through three games in the series. One more Avalanche win ends it. (espn.com) (nhl.com)
