Avalanche ruin debut of Kings interim coach D.J. Smith

Field Level Media|published: Tue 3rd March, 01:37 2026

NHL: Colorado Avalanche at Los Angeles Kings

Mar 2, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Colorado Avalanche left wing Victor Olofsson (95) and LA Kings defenseman Angus Booth (81) battle for the puck in the first period at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Martin Necas and Gabriel Landeskog each had a goal and two assists as the visiting Colorado Avalanche earned a 4-2 win against the short-handed Los Angeles Kings on Monday night.

Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, setting up Devon Toews for the tiebreaking goal with 4:55 left. Mackenzie Blackwood made 19 saves for the Avalanche, who have won four of the past five to maintain the best record in the NHL.

Angus Booth scored in his first NHL game, Brandt Clarke also tallied and Anton Forsberg made 35 saves for the Kings, who spoiled the debut of interim coach D.J. Smith by losing for the sixth time in their past seven games (1-5-1).

Smith replaced Jim Hiller, who was fired on Sunday.

MacKinnon entered the right circle with speed before centering a pass to Toews, who redirected the puck into the net for a 3-2 lead at 15:05 of the third period.

Necas scored into an empty net with two seconds left to make it 4-2.

Early on, the Kings turned the puck over entering the Colorado zone on a rush and the Avalanche went the other way. Necas fed MacKinnon for a one-timer from the left hashmarks for a 1-0 lead at 4:27 of the first period.

Landeskog scored with a one-timer through traffic from above the circles to make it 2-0 at 10:13 of the opening frame.

The Kings went on the first power play of the game when Josh Manson was called for tripping at 17:14 of the first, and Clarke scored six seconds into the man advantage with a wrist shot from just inside the blue line to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Booth tied it 2-2 when he redirected a pass from Brian Dumoulin into the net at 8:32 of the second.

The Kings recalled Booth, a 21-year-old defenseman, and forward Jared Wright from Ontario of the American Hockey League on Monday, a day after calling up forward Kenny Connors. All three made their NHL debuts because Los Angeles was without forwards Quinton Byfield (upper body) and Trevor Moore (illness), defenseman Drew Doughty (lower body) and goalie Darcy Kuemper (illness).

Those absences were in addition to forward Joel Armia, who underwent an MRI on an upper-body injury on Monday, and forwards Andrei Kuzmenko (meniscus) and Kevin Fiala (fractured leg), who are long term.

--Field Level Media

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