Kings at Avalanche: LA's new era opens against the team that swept it

The last time the Los Angeles Kings played the Colorado Avalanche, the crowd was chanting a name. It was Game 4 of their first-round series last April, Colorado was closing out a 5-1 win and a sweep, and the fans at crypto.com Arena kept calling for Anze Kopitar. He drew standing ovations on his final two shifts.

Tonight at 10 p.m. ET at Ball Arena, the Kings start over against the same team. Kopitar has retired after 20 seasons. There is a new coach behind the bench. And the hole is now seven games deep: Colorado won all three regular-season meetings last season, then swept the series.

So the question for opening night is simple. Did Los Angeles change enough to make this a hockey game again, or is Colorado still a level above?

How the sweep really went

On paper it was lopsided, 13 goals to 5. On the ice, the first two games were close.

Game 1 in Denver stayed scoreless until late in the second period, when Artturi Lehkonen finished a Nathan MacKinnon feed. Logan O'Connor made it 2-0 in the third, Artemi Panarin answered on the power play late, and Colorado held on 2-1. Anton Forsberg made 30 saves for LA.

Game 2 was the Kings' best shot. Panarin scored on the power play at 13:04 of the third to give Los Angeles its first lead of the series. It lasted 3:21. Gabriel Landeskog tied it, and Nicolas Roy won it on a backhand 7:44 into overtime. Forsberg stopped 34 of 36.

Back in Los Angeles, Colorado pulled away. Game 3 turned on a shorthanded goal by Lehkonen in the third period, the eventual winner in a 4-2 game. Game 4 belonged to MacKinnon. Held to one assist through three games, he scored on the power play in the first period, ending Colorado's 0-for-9 start with the man advantage, and later added an empty-netter. Cale Makar, Roy and Devon Toews also scored.

The quiet star was Scott Wedgewood. In the first four playoff starts of his career, he made exactly 24 saves every night: 96 on 101 shots, a .950 save percentage. Los Angeles led for 3:21 of the entire series.

What changed in Los Angeles

The Kings went 35-27-20 last season. That last number is the one that stings. Twenty losses after regulation was an NHL record, per NHL.com, and LA went 13-20 in games decided past 60 minutes. The offense scored 2.68 goals a game, 29th in the league. The power play ranked 28th at 17.0 percent and the penalty kill ranked 30th at 74.6 percent.

So the summer was about offense and special teams. Peter Laviolette, hired June 9, is the seventh-winningest coach in NHL history and won the Cup with Carolina in 2006. Drew Doughty now wears the C. Erik Haula signed for two years and Mats Zuccarello for one. Zuccarello is 39, but he had 54 points in 59 games for Minnesota last season.

The top line is the part to watch tonight. Quinton Byfield moves into Kopitar's spot as the No. 1 center, between Panarin and Adrian Kempe. After the Kings acquired Panarin from the Rangers on Feb. 4, Byfield put up 19 points in 24 games, and his shots on goal rose to 2.7 a game from 2.09 before the trade. In the playoff series, Panarin had two of LA's five goals.

The holes are real, too. Kevin Fiala had leg surgery in February after an Olympic injury, then needed a follow-up procedure this offseason. GM Ken Holland said he hopes Fiala returns by Nov. 1, while cautioning that the timeline could change. Holland also described Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg as a 1A and 1B in goal instead of naming a starter.

Colorado: the best team, with a point to prove

The Avalanche went 55-16-11 for a franchise-record 121 points and the Presidents' Trophy. Per NHL.com, they scored the most goals in the league (298) and allowed the fewest (197). MacKinnon scored 53 goals and won the Rocket Richard Trophy. Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood shared the Jennings Trophy.

Then Vegas happened. After cruising through two rounds, Colorado was swept by the Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final. So this opener is more than a rematch for Colorado, too. It starts a season the Avs want to use to prove last spring's ending was the exception.

Most of the roster is back. Jaden Schwartz signed, Fedor Svechkov and Zachary L'Heureux came over from Nashville, and Jack Drury and Valeri Nichushkin are gone. ESPN's injury list for tonight has both L'Heureux and O'Connor on injured reserve, so the bottom six will look different from preseason projections. In goal, previews split: one named Blackwood the probable starter, while NHL.com's projected lineup listed Wedgewood first.

What to watch

• Can LA score at even strength? Three of the Kings' five goals in the series came on the power play. Over four games they scored just two at even strength.
• The special teams matchup. Colorado's penalty kill ranked No. 1 last season at 84.6 percent. LA's power play was 28th, yet it produced three of the Kings' five goals in April.
• The new top line. Byfield between Panarin and Kempe is the Kings' best bet to change the story. If that line gets pinned in its own end, the old story repeats.

What it means on the board

This is research and context, not a pick. Seven straight wins in a matchup is history, and a new coach and a new top center are exactly the kind of changes history can't price.

• Moneyline and puck line: the Avalanche moneyline is on our board tonight, and the gap in last season's results is part of that read. Games 1 and 2 were one-goal games, which is the reminder for anyone looking at the puck line.
• Team totals: Los Angeles scored 10 goals in seven games against Colorado last season. A Kings team-total under is on the board, and that history is the kind of number it rests on.
• Shots on goal: MacKinnon was held to one assist through three playoff games, then broke out in Game 4. Shots-on-goal props for him and Makar are on tonight's board.

Follow the full slate on the NHL board and free picks, catch up on last night's games in our NHL recaps, and read how a total works before you tap in.

21+. Research and commentary, not betting advice.