The Los Angeles Kings started their 2026-27 season with an 8-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night at Ball Arena in Denver, according to the team's game recap on NHL.com.
Colorado scored first on the power play 6:33 into the game. Brock Nelson picked up a Jaden Schwartz pass that missed its intended target and scored from a sharp angle at the back post. Late in the first period, Brian Dumoulin scored the Kings' first goal of the season. Alex Laferriere pulled two defenders toward him behind the net and passed back and forth with Dumoulin, who stepped into the left circle and beat goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood.
The tie didn't last. After Los Angeles failed to score on its second power play, Colorado got a 2-on-1 the other way, and Parker Kelly beat Darcy Kuemper for a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission. NHL.com said the goal came at even strength, three seconds after the penalty ran out.
To start the second period, Colorado still had a 5-on-3 carried over from the first. Nazem Kadri found Nathan MacKinnon with a seam pass from below the goal line, and MacKinnon scored on a one-timer. Joel Armia answered for the Kings almost right away with a shorthanded goal, his first of the season. He used a toe drag to get past the blue line and beat Blackwood with a wrist shot from the high slot to make it 3-2.
Midway through the period, MacKinnon scored his second goal of the night off a drop pass from Martin Necas, making it 4-2. With just under four minutes left in the second, Nicolas Roy knocked in a rebound from close range for a 5-2 lead. On that play, Schwartz appeared to be pushed and ended up in the crease behind Kuemper.
Colorado went on to win 8-4. The captured NHL.com recap stops at the 5-2 score late in the second period, so it doesn't say how the remaining goals were scored.