Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood joins Carolina's Frederik Andersen and Philadelphia's Dan Vladar as the only three goalies in the playoffs so far to not allow more than two goals in each of their first three games
All three of their teams are now one win away from sweeping their respective series.
Wedgewood has now finished with exactly 24 saves in each of the three games against the Kings in these playoffs.
Game 4 between the Avs and Kings is scheduled for Sunday, April 26th.
Recap & Highlights
It only took five minutes after puck-drop for the Avalanche to get on the board first.
Gabriel Landeskog scored his second of the playoffs to give the Avs an early 1-0 lead. The goal marked his fifth playoff goal as a game opener as he now sits at six-most in franchise history behind Joe Sakic (16), Peter Forsberg (12), Rob Blake (8), current teammate Nathan MacKinnon (8), and Milan Hejduk (7).
Both teams would go 0-for-1 on the power play as the minimal penalties, especially compared to other series, would continue in the second period.
Almost six minutes into the second, the Kings would find themselves on the board with their first goal of the night.
Trevor Moore scored his first goal of the playoffs to tie things up 1-1, with an assist by Quinton Byfield, who became the fastest player in Kings history to reach the 10 career playoff assists milestone (22 games) since Anze Kopitar (15 games), Dustin Brown (19 games), and Drew Doughty (20 games) all did it in 2012.
But the Avs wouldn't be denied, finding themselves up 2-1 yet again for the third game in a row.
Cale Makar scored his first of the playoffs to give the Avs the one-goal lead once more. He now sits behind Joe Sakic (77), Peter Forsberg (53), and MacKinnon (34) for most playoff go-ahead goals in franchise history with 32.
Heading into the third period, both teams had just 10 combined penalty minutes. The Kings, despite being down, had outshot the Avs 19-15 at that point.
Both had a 4-on-4 situation 14 minutes into the second after MacKinnon was called for embellishment, but neither team would be able to take advantage of the extra ice space.
The Avs would extend their lead on a short-handed opportunity that put them up by two goals almost eight minutes into the third.
Artturi Lehkonen scored his second of the playoffs, which put the Avs up 3-2. He became the 12th Finnish player in NHL history to record 50 career playoff points.
But the Kings wouldn't go down without a fight in front of their home crowd. After going 0-for-3 on the power play through most of the game, LA would finally get one on the board during their fourth.
Adrian Kempe made it a 3-2 game with under five minutes to go. It was the first time in this series in which the Kings scored more than one goal.
Unfortunately for LA, it wasn't enough as Brock Nelson scored his first of the playoffs with an empty-netter that put the Avs up 4-2 as they move to within one more win of eliminating the Kings in four games.