DENVER — In case of emergency, break glass.
That was the Game 2 vibe Tuesday night inside Ball Arena, the league-best Colorado Avalanche and their fans trying to stave off a plucky Kings squad for the second time in three nights.
The Kings put together one of their finest defensive performances of the season, holding the high-octane Avalanche scoreless for more than 56 minutes before falling 2-1 in a heartbreaking overtime defeat and putting themselves in a two-game hole in their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.
Colorado’s Josh Manson unleashed a shot blocked by the Kings’ Brandt Clarke, who was positioned directly in front of goalie Anton Forsberg. Nicolas Roy pounced on the loose puck and drove in the winner at 7:44 of overtime.
Behind a stout defense, Forsberg made 34 saves. Scott Wedgewood stopped 24 shots for the Avalanche.
While it was the same score as Game 1, this matchup seemed like one the Kings could swipe and gain home-ice advantage.
The Kings came in winless in four games this season against Colorado, which finished the season leading the league with 3.69 goals per game.
Quinton Byfield had the greatest opportunity to break a scoreless deadlock at 16:48 of the second period. After a Cole Makar turnover, Byfield was headed for a short-handed breakaway when Makar hooked him for a penalty shot. Byfield skated from the left, deked and went to the right for a backhander, only to be denied by a diving Wedgewood with a glove save.
The larceny set off a boisterous Colorado crowd, so much so that some overzealous fans behind the Kings’ bench pounding on the glass so hard that they shattered it, with shards cascading onto Kings interim coach D.J. Smith and some of the players.
The game was delayed for 17 minutes while crews cleaned the acrylic, possibly giving the Kings a welcome respite in the high altitude.
A wild scramble crashing the net less than five minutes into the third period left the puck floating for what seemed like several seconds. Byfield almost got to it before Sam Malinski cleared it.
That came after the Avalanche thought they had finally broken through in the opening seconds of the third period with a shot by Malinski past the right side of Forsberg. The horn sounded and the crowd went bonkers, only for the referees to wave it off. The puck had merely been stopped on the outside of the net.
The Kings earned a power play with 8:24 to play when Parker Kelly was whistled for high-sticking and bloodying Artemi Panarin. The Avalanche responded with a short-handed attack, Brock Nelson feeding Valeri Nichushkin, who was turned away by the bar.
The Kings finally broke through when Trevor Moore got the puck past Devon Toews to Panarin, who ripped his first shot on net past Wedgewood with a little more than seven minutes to play.
After that, Forsberg and company had to clamp down on the best offensive team in the league.
The lead was short-lived as the Kings began to play conservatively. With 3:35 to play, the Kings won a faceoff but failed to clear the puck. Martin Necas found Gabriel Landeskog sneaking in backdoor on the left side, his pass getting by Cody Ceci and Scott Laughton and Forsberg having no chance at Landeskog’s equalizing snap shot.
Samuel Helenius got the first real crack at winning the game for the Kings, his backhander stopped by Wedgewood at 17:58 of the extra period. A minute later, Wedgewood stopped a Byfield shot from the left wing.
Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon had a prime look at a wide-open goal 5:40 into overtime, only to have his shot blocked by Mikey Anderson as Forsberg desperately dove to his right.
The series returns to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Thursday night.
More to come on this story.