That’s the thing about Stanley Cup champs, isn’t it? They always find a Roy.
“I made a couple of nice plays and got a couple of shots on that (Kings crease) and obviously was lucky to get one,” Avalanche forward Nicolas Roy reflected when asked about his scrappy overtime goal, the one sending Colorado into Los Angeles on Thursday night with a 2-0 series lead.
“But again, I like to be in this area (of the crease), and a lot of those goals are scored there. So I try to be there as much as I can.”
The Nic of Time came 7:44 into overtime late Tuesday, not long after the referees had gifted the K.O. Kings a 1-0 cushion — forcing Marty Necas to go reverse 5-hole with Gabe Landeskog and claw the Avs back.
The 6-foot-4 Roy, acquired from Toronto for a first-round pick at the trade deadline this past March, is built like the girder of an old-time baseball park. He’s strong, lean, sturdy, and hard as all heck to see around during parts of the action.
In the Colorado spirit, once Big Nic started camping in Los Angeles goalie Anton Forsberg’s crease, it was only a matter of time before somebody started a fire. While Roy and Kings defender Brandt Clarke swapped shoves in front of the L.A. net, the Avs’ Josh Manson collected a feed from Nazem Kadri, cocked his stick back, and fired from the blue line.
With that, Roy nudged the pesky Clarke to his right and rooted himself on a spot that obscured Forsberg’s line of sight. Brandt blocked Manson’s wrister, only to lose the rubber as it trickled under him. An alert Roy leaned in and shoveled the loose puck past Forsberg to end one of the weirdest playoff nights in Ball Arena history.
“(Roy has) been awesome,” Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon said later. “I mean, he’s a great player. He’s a really smart player, awesome guy. (Joel Kiviranta) almost scored right before him, and then (Roy) found a way to get it done.”
Avs 2, Kidney Punch Kings 1. They found a way. They found a Roy, in spite of it all. Hockey justice is supposed to be blind in April. But not nearly as blind as the zebras that worked Avs-Kings Game 2.
Artemi Panarin lofted the puck over Colorado net-minder Scott Wedgewood on the power play with 6:56 left in the third period to break the deadlock, giving the underdogs a 1-0 lead. But ain’t it funny how officials didn’t notice the cross-check in front of the Avs goal, as Los Angeles’ Scott Laughton shoved Devon Toews halfway to Littleton?
Cale Makar? Elbow to the chin.
Marty Necas? Elbow to the nose.
That second one, a cheap shot by the Kings’ Mikey Anderson, is a felony in 45 states. On Tuesday, it was two minutes for roughing.
From four blind mice in stripes to in-game stadium repair, it turned into one long, strange trip of an evening. The second period had a little bit of everything. Everything, that is, except a goal.
Arena crews replace a panel of glass broken by a fan during the second period of game two of the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Colorado Avalanche and the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, at Ball Arena in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)
Some goaltenders raise the roof. Wedgewood rattled the windows — helping to break the glass that separates Avs fans from the Kings’ bench.
Not directly, mind you. See, roughly 3:12 into the second stanza, Wedgie stoned a penalty shot awarded to the Kings’ Quinton Byfield, the result of a particularly curious call on Cale Makar. The Avs goalie dove hard to his left, extending a glove to stop the Los Angeles forward’s backhanded try.
With that, the superb gave way to the surreal. Ball went justifiably bonkers over Wedgewood’s stop. So bonkers, in fact, that the glass partition behind the L.A. bench completely shattered due to repeated banging by Avs faithful. The collision sent a shower of shards into the back and shoulder of unsuspecting Kings coach D.J. Smith and his staff.
And cue the oddest of odd playoff delays. The away bench had to be cleared as cleaning and maintenance crews rushed in to sweep up debris. New glass was installed after a 17-minute delay, during which both teams remained on the ice.
In hindsight, the stoppage might have slowed down a chance for the Avs to immediately capitalize on the juice generated from Wedgewood’s penalty save.
“That’s a different one,” said Avs coach Jared Bednar, who took a stray puck to the face against Vegas earlier this month. “I mean, stuff happens.”
The rough stuff happened early and often. Manson separated Laughton from his spine with 10:28 to go in the first. After Wedgewood smothered a Trevor Moore wrister on a Kings 2-on-1, a full-scale donnybrook exploded near the Colorado net.
Once order was restored, the assailants skated to the Los Angeles end of the ice. But not all — Necas got sandwiched between the Kings’ Mathieu Joseph and Anderson at center ice, a collision punctuated by Anderson reaching up to elbow the Avs winger right between the nostrils.
Meanwhile, Artturi Lehkonen boarded a dude behind the Los Angeles net with the subtlety of an Estes Park elk. Somebody grabbed Sam Malinsky, and we had another scrap, only on the other end, and with everybody on the dance floor.
When the dust settled for a second time, Brett Kulak got four minutes — two for roughing, another two for cross-checking — in the box, and Anderson only had to serve two in his box on a roughing charge.
Nevertheless, the chippy persisted. The Kings’ 6-foot-5 forward Jeff Malott bopped the 6-foot Makar in the face with 4:18 left in the opening period as they hovered above Wedgewood’s crease just before a stoppage in play.
Necas got a little of his back in the Avs’ last possession of the opening 20 minutes, shoving Anderson into the boards behind the Kings’ net a few seconds ahead of the stanza-ending horn. Why should Vegas and Utah have all the fun?
“I guess I’d better keep my head up, huh?” Laughton told ESPN sideline reporter — and former Avs great — Erik Johnson during a break in the action. “No bicycles on the highway.”
The goalie duel continued, even as the Avs generated a 3-on-1 with 4:26 left in the second stanza, a rush that had the natives rising to their collective feet again.
Only Necas dished to Landeskog rather than ripping one while he had a good look. That little hesitation gave Forsberg enough time to snuff out the danger.
Shoot, Marty!
Ah, shoot, Marty.
Playoff Necas rebounded. With 3:35 left in regulation and the Avalanche down, 1-0, Marty camped out behind Forsberg’s left shoulder, waited for help, and found an open Landy cutting into the crease. No. 88 slipped a perfect diagonal pass between Forsberg’s leg pads and onto the stick of the Captain, who didn’t miss — lighting the lamp and sending another grindy contest into overtime.
In case of awful officiating, just break glass. And call on Roy to clean up the NHL’s mess.
“I’m joining a group of guys (in Colorado) that have built something really good here,” Saint Nic said of Avs life. “(I’m) just trying to chip in as much as I can, help these guys out in any way I can.”
No bicycles on this highway, kids. Here today. Goon tomorrow.