Nathan MacKinnon and Artturi Lehkonen had two goals each, Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves and the Colorado Avalanche used a four-goal second period to beat the Los Angeles Kings 8-4 in Denver on Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams.
Brock Nelson collected a goal and two assists, Parker Kelly added a goal and assist and Nicolas Roy also scored to help Colorado coach Jared Bednar celebrate his four-year contract extension.
Bednar was in the final year of his current contract when the deal was announced Wednesday morning.
Cale Makar, Nazem Kadri, Jaden Schwartz and Devon Toews had two assists each and Gabriel Landeskog scored less than a minute after MacKinnon dropped the gloves for a rare fight by the superstar center.
Artemi Panarin, Trevor Moore, Joel Armia and Brian Dumoulin scored and Darcy Kuemper stopped 21 shots for Los Angeles.
Alex Laferriere added two assists for the Kings.
Colorado went ahead 1-0 on the power play early in the first on Nelson’s goal off the first of two assists by Schwartz. Dumoulin tied it at 15:14 with a shot from the top of the left circle, and the Kings had a chance to get another on the power play.
With time winding down, Josh Manson chipped the puck along the boards to Kelly, who carried it into the Los Angeles zone on an odd-man rush and beat Kuemper at 17:58.
Los Angeles took penalties 40 seconds apart late in the first. MacKinnon scored on the two-man advantage 23 seconds into the second period, but Armia answered 1:05 later to cut the Kings’ deficit to 3-2.
MacKinnon made it a two-score game with his second goal at 8:33, and the teams combined for three goals in the final 3:59 of the middle period.
Roy made it 5-2 when he scored while Schwartz was face down in the crease, Moore scored a short-handed goal at 17:50 but Lehkonen answered on the same power play 44 seconds later to restore the three-goal lead.
Panarin cut it to 6-4 at 11:51 but Landeskog and Lehkonen scored 1:03 apart to cap the scoring.
