DENVER — If the opening two games have revealed anything, it’s this: the script hasn’t unfolded the way most expected—but it has still tilted in Colorado’s favor.

The Los Angeles Kings have done everything they can to drag this series into the trenches. The pace has been uneven, the ice crowded, every inch fought over. Special teams have given Los Angeles life, and for long stretches, they’ve been able to steer the tone of play.

And yet, it’s the Colorado Avalanche heading west with a 2–0 series lead.

This version of Colorado feels far more at ease playing in the mud than previous editions—leaning into structure, detail, and a defensive posture that won’t make highlight reels but wins hockey games this time of year.

“We’re good playing this way,” captain Gabriel Landeskog said after the Game 2 overtime win. “It’s about being tough to play against. That’s where everything starts for us.”

For a team that spent the regular season overwhelming opponents with speed and firepower, it’s a meaningful shift. Colorado led the league with 297 goals, often turning games into track meets and burying teams in waves. For decades, that’s been the organization’s identity—skill, creativity, and relentless offense as a baseline, not a luxury.

But beneath all of that—under the systems, the structure, and the stylistic tug-of-war in this series—there’s a far more personal storyline unfolding behind the bench.

It belongs to Jared Bednar and Anton Forsberg.

For Bednar, this isn’t simply about solving a goaltender. It’s about facing someone he once leaned on when everything around him threatened to come undone.

Back in 2016, long before NHL playoff chess matches, Bednar was guiding the Lake Erie Monsters through the grind of the Calder Cup Playoffs. Anton Forsberg wasn’t the headline name at the time—but when things started to wobble, he became the answer.

If there's anyone who has an inside scoop on what Forsberg is capable of doing, it's Bednar.

The turning point came on May 14, 2016.

Lake Erie held a 3–1 series lead over the Grand Rapids Griffins, but Game 5 unraveled. Joonas Korpisalo, who had carried much of the workload to that point, was pulled after allowing five goals on 30 shots. Down 5–1, Bednar turned back to Forsberg—not to rescue the game, but to stabilize it. Forsberg stopped five of the six shots he faced, but the damage had already been done in a 6–1 loss.

Game 6 brought more instability. Korpisalo surrendered three goals on just nine shots, and once again, Bednar made the call.

Forsberg stepped in with the season teetering—and this time, everything changed.

It’s easy to forget now, but Forsberg had been the backbone of that team all season, posting a 23-10-5 record with a 2.40 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. Yet when the playoffs began, Bednar handed the crease to Korpisalo. When Forsberg got his next opportunity, it wasn’t given—it was taken.

Bednar still doesn’t hesitate when describing what he saw in him.

"Fors is a competitive guy; he's an athletic guy, he's a great teammate. He's got a great mental mindset of the game and none of that's changed."

That belief showed immediately. Forsberg turned aside all 23 shots he faced after entering Game 6, giving his team room to breathe. Goals from Michael Chaput and Lukas Sedlak forced overtime, where Zach Werenski buried the winner 12:32 into the extra frame to clinch the series.

From that moment on, there was no more uncertainty.

Forsberg took the net back—and didn’t let go.

He rattled off five consecutive wins, backstopping Lake Erie to a Calder Cup title and cementing a level of trust that doesn’t fade with time.

Now, years later, that history lingers beneath the surface of this series.

Bednar knows exactly what Forsberg is capable of. He’s seen him walk into chaos and quiet it. He’s watched him take games that were slipping away and steady them, shift by shift.

Which is what gives this matchup a different kind of edge.

He doesn’t hesitate when expanding on that history either—because it still feels relevant.

“He was our starter all year in Cleveland. We went to Korpisalo to start the playoffs. Korpisalo goes 6-0 and then loses two games in a row. We put Forsberg in. Like, that's a long break. It's three weeks of not playing, just practicing. He goes in the net, wins us six in a row to win the Calder Cup.

"He's always going to be ready. He proved that again this year. It was Darcy Kuemper's net. They felt they needed a change. They were fighting to get in the playoffs. He goes in and runs the table for them. He's playing at the top of his game right now. He's a really good goalie and he's matured over time and we're going to have to work to keep getting enough pucks in traffic and scoring opportunities so we can beat him a handful of times a game."

Because while Colorado holds a 2–0 lead—and while they’ve shown they can win a tighter, more disciplined brand of hockey—there’s still a goaltender on the other side who has built a career out of settling exactly these kinds of games.

And no one understands that better than the coach staring across the ice at him.