March 2, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Colorado Avalanche left winger Victor Olofsson (95) and LA Kings defenseman Angus Booth (81) faced off 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 over the undermanned Los Angeles Kings on Monday night.
Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist and Devon Toews scored the tying goal with 4:55 left. Mackenzie Blackwood made 19 saves for the Avalanche, who have won four of their last five to maintain their best record in the NHL.
Angus Booth scored in his first NHL game, Brandt Clarke also scored and Anton Forsberg made 35 saves for the Kings, who spoiled interim coach DJ Smith’s debut with their sixth loss in their last seven games (1-5-1).
Smith replaced Jim Hiller, who was fired on Sunday.
MacKinnon entered the right circle at speed and funneled 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 goal with two seconds left to make it 4-2.
Early on, the Kings turned the puck over as they rushed into Colorado territory, and the Avalanche went the other way. Necas fed MacKinnon with a one-timer from the left hashmark for a 1-0 lead at 4:27 of the first period.
Landeskog made it 2-0 with a one-timer through traffic over the circle at 10:13 of the opening frame.
The Kings went on their first power play of the game when Josh Manson was called for a trip at 17:14 of the first, and Clarke scored with six seconds left on a wrist shot from just inside the blue line to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Booth tied the score 2-2 at 8:32 of the second when he redirected a pass from Brian Dumoulin into the net.
The Kings recalled 21-year-old defenseman Booth and forward Jared Wright from Ontario from the American Hockey League on Monday, a day after recalling forward Kenny Connors. Los Angeles was without forwards Quinton Byfield (upper body) and Trevor Moore (illness), defenseman Drew Doughty (lower body) and goalie Darcy Kuemper (illness), so all three were making their NHL debuts.
Forward Joel Armia, who had an MRI with an upper-body injury on Monday, and long-term players Andrei Kuzmenko (meniscus) and Kevin Fiala (leg fracture) are also out.
–Field level media
