DENVER (AP) 鈥� Logan O鈥機onnor scored for the first time in a year, Scott Wedgewood stopped 24 shots in his first start and the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 in Game 1 on Sunday.
O’Connor’s third-period tally was his first since Game 4 of a playoff series against Dallas on April 26. He missed most of this season with a hip injury. Artturi Lehkonen had a second-period goal for the Avalanche.
鈥淪uper happy to get it out of the way,鈥� said O’Connor, who in early June. “For us, our game translates well to the playoffs. It鈥檚 a lot of simplicity and muck it up and just wear teams down. It was nice to get that one out of the way and finish the job off.鈥�
Wedgewood got the nod in net over Mackenzie Blackwood after leading the league in goals-against average and save percentage. Wedgewood made four career playoff appearances in relief before Sunday’s start.
At 33 years, 248 days old, Wedgewood became the third-oldest goaltender in league history to pick up a win in his first career playoff start, according to NHL stats.
鈥淥bviously, a long career to get to this point,鈥� Wedgwood cracked.
Game 2 is Tuesday night in Denver.
Artemi Panarin scored a power-play goal with 2:22 left to make it 2-1. Shortly after, forward Joel Armia was called for high-sticking and the Kings were unable to tie it up.
鈥淲e were kind of coming there late and couldn鈥檛 get enough,鈥� forward Scott Laughton said.
Anton Forsberg stopped 28 shots in his NHL postseason debut.
鈥淲e鈥檙e comfortable in low-scoring games,鈥� Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson said. 鈥淲e’ve got to try and keep it tight.鈥�
Nathan MacKinnon had an assist on Lehkonen’s goal to give him 32 career points in Game 1s. He trails only Joe Sakic (42) for the most Game-1 points in franchise history.
The game got chippy in the third period, with Cale Makar taking a shove to the back by Adrian Kempe. Captain Gabriel Landeskog later stood up for Makar and got into it with Kempe. Both drew roughing calls.
There were a combined 84 hits.
鈥淲e know teams are going to want to push us out of games,鈥� said O’Connor, whose team was 0 for 4 on the power play. 鈥淲e feel as though we can push back just as hard. That鈥檚 one great thing about our group: the versatility within our locker room. You want to go a 1-0 game? We like to think we can beat you at that. Track meet, if it happens? We鈥檝e got that. Physicality, we have guys who are willing to step up.鈥�
Colorado nearly scored earlier in the second when O’Connor sent a shot past Forsberg. But as the goal horn sounded, the officials signaled no goal. It was ruled Jack Drury made contact with Forsberg following a collision with Drew Doughty. The Avalanche challenged but the call stood.
鈥淚鈥檇 like to see it count,鈥� Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. 鈥淭hey saw it different 鈥� not losing any sleep over it.鈥�
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This story has been corrected to show Logan O鈥機onnor鈥檚 last goal was April 26.
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