Recap: Opening night mayhem leads to 8-4 Avalanche win

Believe it or not but the power play got the Avalanche on the board first, however in pure hilarious fashion it was the second unit that got the job done. Brock Nelson deflected a rebound off of Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper 's mask and into the net. The Kings then got their own power play and didn't score on it but seemed to give them momentum. After a couple big saves from Mackenzie Blackwood and good pings, Los Angeles finally broke through. It was defenseman Brian Dumoulin who got a shot through traffic to even the score. The next Kings power play didn't go well either but Parker Kelly got a strike on a breakaway just after the penalty expired to put Colorado up by one heading into the first intermission.

A five-on-three for Colorado carried over into the second frane and the boys in burgundy made it count as Nathan MacKinnon lit the lamp just 23 seconds into the period. Just one minute later, though, Joel Armia got one back for the Kings shorthanded when he beat Blackwood from distance. At 3-2 was the closest the Kings got because the Avalanche added two more scores in the second period. First, again from MacKinnon and then Nic Roy. On the latter goal Jaden Schwartz was lying open the crease making contact with Kuemper but the Kings didn't even try to challenge the goal so Colorado was up 5-3 at that point.

But, not so fast. Los Angeles got their second shorthanded goal of the period when Trevor Moore put a snipe on Blackwood. The Avalanche responded when the second power play unit was put back on the ice to finish out the man advantage and Artturi Lehkonen converted from the slot. So the Avalanche were back up by three with a 6-3 score going into the second intermission.