• Powered by Roundtable
    Colleen Flynn
    Oct 12, 2023, 06:20

    Colorado's top line combined for three goals and eight points total in the Avalanche's 5-2 opening night win against the Los Angeles Kings.

    Mikko Rantanen notched four points in the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings in both teams' opening night on Wednesday at Crypto.com Arena.  

    Nathan MacKinnon scored the lone goal in the first period on a tape-to-tape pass from Rantanen. Jonathan Drouin earned his first assist in burgundy and blue on the goal. 

    Cale Makar struck next in the second period putting the Avalanche up 2-0 and Rantanen put one past the Kings' goaltender Cam Talbot less than a minute later. 

    Kings forward Carl Grundstrom tipped one in past Alexandar Georgiev at 7:25 in the second and Quinton Byfield tightened up the game with a goal in the last seconds of the period.

    Rantanen upped the lead with his second goal of the night in the third on a pass from Makar. 

    Miles Wood scored his first in an Avalanche jersey into an empty net with less than four minutes left in the game. 

    Georgiev made 35 saves to back the Avalanche to its first win of the season. 

    The team played fluent for most of the 60 minutes but came out hot right out of the gate. They played hungry throughout and regrouped when there was some lack in discipline on the puck. 

    The Avs face off against the San Jose Sharks at 8 p.m. MT on Saturday at the SAP Center.