Colorado won because Wedgewood conceded 1.5 goals below league average while MacKinnon's 3-point night exposed a Los Angeles penalty problem that cost the Kings 26 PIM and surrendered the game's opening goal.
β‘TURNING POINT
Roy's goal 3:13 into the third stretched the lead to 3-1 and eliminated Los Angeles's realistic path back into the game β a two-goal deficit against a team with a five-game winning streak and a clinched conference seed is functionally a closed case. It converted a tense one-goal cushion into a kill shot, and the Kings conceded two more in the next eleven minutes.
πWHY COL WON
1
Goaltending: Wedgewood conceded 1.5 goals below league average on 25 shots β in a 4-goal regulation win, that margin neutralised any Kings momentum after the P2 equaliser.
2
Penalty Kill / Discipline Gap: PIM 8 vs. 26 β Colorado's restraint forced Los Angeles into a 0/4 power play while COL converted 1/5, a net swing that produced the game's first goal and ceded no equalising opportunity.
3
Faceoff Dominance: Faceoff % 53.8% β Colorado's control of possession starts suppressed LAK's zone entries, limiting Kings shots to 25 and preventing sustained offensive-zone pressure.
πWHY LAK LOST
1
Goaltending: Forsberg conceded 0.9 goals above league average on 31 shots β in a game decided by four goals, that margin compounded every defensive breakdown.
2
Penalty Indiscipline: 26 PIM on 4 penalties β surrendering the game's opening power-play goal while generating zero return on four opportunities handed the road team a free advantage.
3
Third-Period Collapse: COL outscored LAK 3-0 in the final frame β Los Angeles, entering with a one-goal deficit and a realistic chance, could not generate the defensive structure to stop Colorado from pulling clear with three unanswered.
Three Stars
Nathan MacKinnon1st
COL, C
2G 1A 3P5 SOG1 PPG
MacKinnon bookended the scoring with a power-play opener and an insurance goal, his 5 shots on goal sustaining constant pressure that the Kings could not absorb.
Gabriel Landeskog2nd
COL, L
0G 2A 2P+/- +2
Landeskog assisted on both MacKinnon goals, connecting the line's production to Colorado's first and fifth tallies and anchoring the unit's offensive consistency across all three periods.
Anze Kopitar3rd
LAK, C
0G 0A 0P
No individual stats from the data support further elaboration on Kopitar's impact in this game.
