DENVER — Nathan MacKinnon scored twice in a four-goal second period and capped his night with a rare fight as the Colorado Avalanche opened the season with an 8-4 victory over the Los Angeles Kings at Ball Arena in Denver on Wednesday night.
Hours before puck drop, Colorado gave head coach Jared Bednar a four-year contract extension. Bednar, who led Colorado to the 2022 Stanley Cup title and was in the final year of his current contract, had faced speculation after being swept by Vegas in the Western Conference finals last spring. "I didn't want him to go through the whole year and have those distractions of being asked that same question, especially as the year goes on," Avs president and general manager Joe Sakic said before Wednesday night's game. MacKinnon, the 2024 MVP who had a career-high 53 goals last season, scored on a 5-on-3 just 23 seconds into the second period and gave Colorado a 4-2 lead with his second at 8:33.
Artturi Lehkonen had two goals, Brock Nelson had a goal and two assists and Mackenzie Blackwood made 26 saves for Colorado, which scored four times on the power play and allowed two short-handed goals. MacKinnon, whose last fight was four years ago, dropped the gloves with Kings defenseman Brandt Clark with Colorado leading 6-4 late in the third. Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog scored less than a minute later and Lehkonen iced it with his second 1:03 later.
Nelson and Kelly scored in the first period to give Colorado a 2-1 lead, while Trevor Moore, Joel Armia and Brian Dumoulin scored for Los Angeles and Darcy Kuemper stopped 21 shots. Moore and Armia added goals in the second period for the Kings, and Artemi Panarin scored on a delayed penalty midway through the third. Los Angeles visits San Jose on Saturday night, while Colorado hosts St. Louis on Saturday night.