{"id":556006,"date":"2026-04-19T12:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T12:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/556006\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T12:54:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T12:54:19","slug":"avalanche-and-kings-do-battle-in-denver-for-a-playoff-kick-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/556006\/","title":{"rendered":"Avalanche and Kings Do Battle In Denver For a Playoff Kick-Off"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the NHL Predictions for the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Each day, our writers here at Last Word On Hockey\u00a0look at the games and give in-depth analysis. Our team breaks down the key matchups, storylines, and stats, then makes predictions based on how they might play out. For this edition, we will look at the Los Angeles Kings<\/a> against the Colorado Avalanche<\/a> in Game 1 of Western Conference first-round playoff action. Don\u2019t forget to check out more NHL Predictions, as our writers will continue this series throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs, up to the final game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NHL Predictions with Los Angeles Kings at Colorado Avalanche<\/p>\n

2025-2026 Season Series:\u00a0Los Angeles 0-3 Colorado<\/p>\n

Time: 3:00\u00a0p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) | 12:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT)<\/p>\n

How to Watch<\/a>: Canada: Sportsnet+, SNO, SNP, SNW, TVAS2
\nUnited States: HBO Max, TNT, truTV, ALT, FDSNSC<\/p>\n

Location: Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado<\/p>\n

Game 1 between the Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche kicks-off in Colorado for a Sunday afternoon affair. In the regular season, Los Angeles finished with a 35-27-20 record, and Colorado finished with a 55-16-11 record. Colorado swept the season series, 3-0, and most recently beat L.A., 4-2, on March 2nd. For further numbers and storylines, check out our series preview<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Kings Story<\/p>\n

L.A. finished the regular season strong, going 6-2-2 in the final ten games. However, their season could just be defined by a single word: Overtime. Their 20 losses in extra time allowed them to squeeze into the final Western Wild Card spot. Other than being proficient at keeping the puck out of their net, their other metrics rank near the bottom of the NHL. They will need to rely on strong defence and goaltending to maintain low-scoring games.<\/p>\n

Credit Image: \u00a9 Spencer Lee\/ZUMA Press Wire<\/p>\n

The Kings had a few injuries to worry about, but they received some good news. Andrei Kuzmenko<\/a> has been activated off injured reserve as of Saturday. Furthermore, Jeff Malott and Alex Turcotte<\/a> are options for game one. Kevin Fiala<\/a> will remain out with an injury suffered in the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.<\/p>\n

The Avalanche Story<\/p>\n

Colorado has been strong all year, finishing near the top of the NHL in most metrics, other than the power play. Nathan MacKinnon<\/a>, a likely finalist for the Hart Trophy and the winner of the Rocket Richard Trophy, will look to make quick work of the Kings. This is a cup-or-bust year for the Avalanche, and they will certainly set their eyes on the prize.<\/p>\n

Injury-wise, the Avalanche should have all players available for Game 1, including Cale Makar<\/a>, who suffered an injury at the end of March.<\/a><\/p>\n

Starting Goalies<\/p>\n

Below are the projected starters for tonight\u2019s game. Please check social media for the most updated information before locking in your daily fantasy lineups.<\/p>\n

For LA, Anton Forsberg<\/a> should get the start. He has outperformed the supposed starter, Darcy Kuemper<\/a>, this year, and is a big reason that the team is in the postseason. Forsberg has a 16-12-5 record, a 2.57 goals-against average, and a .910 save percentage.<\/p>\n

For Colorado, we expect Scott Wedgewood<\/a> to get the nod in goal. Similar to Forsberg, he ended up with better numbers than the supposed starter, Mackenzie Blackwood<\/a>. Wedgewood has had a Vezina Trophy-calibre season<\/a>, with a 31-6-6 record, a 2.02 goals-against average, and a .921 save percentage.<\/p>\n

Prediction and Best Bets<\/p>\n

Colorado is looking to assert their dominance early and show the Kings that they will not play their game. They cannot be sucked into the Kings\u2019 style of low-event, low-scoring hockey. The Avalanche should hold serve at home to kick off the series.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Avalanche win 4-2.<\/p>\n

Best Bets<\/p>\n

To wrap things up, here are our anytime goal scorer picks. For the Kings, we will pick Adrian Kempe<\/a> to get a goal. On the Avalanche side, we will choose Nathan MacKinnon to get on the board.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

Please play responsibly, check for your local rules and age restrictions; some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to the NHL Predictions for the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Each day, our writers here at Last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5116],"tags":[20557,193,192,144,1314,5277,5,371,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-556006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-2026-stanley-cup-playoffs","9":"tag-avalanche","10":"tag-colorado","11":"tag-colorado-avalanche","12":"tag-colorado-avalanche-predictions","13":"tag-coloradoavalanche","14":"tag-hockey","15":"tag-los-angeles-kings-predictions","16":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116431478512938859","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}