The Colorado Avalanche accumulated 31 more points in the standings and were +121 relative to the Kings in terms of goal differential.

But ahead of Tuesday’s Game 2 in Denver, the gap between the two teams didn’t seem so wide.

The most disparate matchup in the Stanley Cup Playoffs’ first round produced a tight 2-1 affair in Game 1, with a disallowed goal for Colorado and some near misses on both sides. Those were headlined by Drew Doughty’s point-blank bid that went wide of a wide-open net late in the first period.

The Kings’ penalty kill, which placed third-to-last this season and didn’t even negate two-thirds of their infractions in the final month of the season, went 4-for-4. The Kings also got the match’s only power-play goal.

“We won special teams. When you do that on the road, you’d think you’d maybe do better, but it is what it is. We’re down in the series, but [there were] a lot of good things,” Kings interim coach D.J. Smith told reporters.

The Avs produced a season-high number of hits and were still out-crunched by the Kings in a game that featured 84 credited hits. The Kings’ leading scorer Adrian Kempe was out to agitate, picking up the slack from the departure of Corey Perry, whose Tampa Bay Lightning lost their Game 1 in overtime to Montreal.

It was merely the nascence of what figures to be a very physical and contested series.

“You’re battling against the same team, right? So it’s gonna be like that all playoffs, and that’s the way it starts,” Kings center Scott Laughton told reporters.

Colorado had 14 wins by a margin greater than three goals while the Kings produced just three, and the Avs played in 29 one-goal games to the Kings’ 47, plus another 15 that were one-goal games until an empty-netter was scored.

Still, both game-winning goal-scorer Logan O’Connor and Coach Jared Bednar felt uncomfortably comfortable on a bumpy, white-knuckled ride.

“I’m really happy with the way we played. I think that’s the kind of game you can expect playing the Kings. It’s a tight-checking team,” Bednard told reporters. “What’d they play, 50-something one-goal games and low-scoring games? I’m comfortable with that. I think our team’s comfortable with that.”

The Kings did not score for 57:38 of Game 1, when they finally broke through on their fourth power play. Their fourth line struggled, including mismanaging the puck on the play that led to O’Connor’s winner.

Meanwhile, Andrei Kuzmenko, who was activated ahead of the playoffs from injured reserve (meniscus surgery), was not in the lineup. He led the Kings in power-play goals this season despite missing 30 games between his knee injury and several healthy scratches.

One lineup decision that isn’t much of a decision these days is starting goalie. Anton Forsberg hung tough in Game 1 and should be expected to retain the net for Game 2.

“He was great. He’s been great for us down the stretch. He’s made some huge saves when we needed him to, he’s been calm and he’s been collected,” defenseman Mikey Anderson said.