Los Angeles showed offensive promise, but Colorado’s high-powered attack exposed the Kings’ defensive struggles in an 8-4 season opener.
The Los Angeles Kings (0-1-0) kicked off their 2026-27 season by losing to the Colorado Avalanche (1-0-0), 8-4, in front of a sold-out Denver crowd, who watched the Avalanche show them why they were the No. 1 offense last year and continued their dominance in this match.
Overall, the Kings had a solid outing, competing offensively, with four different Kings scoring a goal, including Brian Dumoulin, Artemi Panarin, Trevor Moore, and Joel Armia, but L.A.'s defense was exposed against the Avs ' top-tier offense.
Although this was just the first game of a long 82-game season, it had the energy of an intense rivalry and remained one-sided; the Avs continued to dominate. After losing a sweep in last season's first-round playoffs, it may be an intense rivalry the Kings still can't close out games against.
Every time the Kings cut the deficit to a one- or two-score game, the Avs responded, keeping the pressure on LA and feeding off their home crowd to hold a 6-3 lead after two excellent periods.
The opening tip was electric; Colorado dominated on the power play, going 2/2 in the first period to take a 2-1 lead and finishing the night 4/5. While the Kings scored a shorthanded goal from Dumoulin and outshot the home team, they still fell behind after 15 minutes.
The Avs did most of the damage in the second period, even though the Kings scored two goals. Colorado started the period hot, outscoring the visitors 4-2, and capped it with their third power-play goal.
Armia and Trevor Moore both scored in the period to cut the deficit to two, but goals from Nathan MacKinnon and two other Avs extended the home team's lead to 6-3 after 30 minutes.
There were pockets of promise for the Kings in this game; the offense and puck movement looked fresher, but closeout situations and weak defense kept the silver and black from any comeback.
Any time LA scored, Colorado came right back on the other end and kept putting their stamp on the game, showing why they won the Presidents Trophy last season and arguably have the league's best offense.
The Kings tried to get back in the game after Artemi Panarin scored to cut the deficit to two, giving LA an offensive burst, but another power-play goal for the Avs ended the game.
Key Takeaways
Don't overreact! This was only the first game of an 82-game season on the road against arguably the best team in the Western Conference. The offense looked solid, with a couple of lapses and weak closeouts on defense, but overall the Kings put up four goals against last season's No. 1 team.
The big takeaway is that the power play was awful again, as the Kings finished 0/4 on the night, looking like the same old Kings from last season. Defense and goaltending were also recurring issues, especially goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who didn't look good.
With Anton Forsberg playing much better in the second half of the season and the playoffs, the right choice would've been to start Forsberg tonight over Kuemper.
Things should only get better as the Kings continue their road trip on Saturday against the San Jose Sharks at 7:00 P.M. PT.
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