R1, G4 Preview – 2 Changes Expected + Kings On Stylistic Approach, Extending Series, Kopitar’s Career, Laughton on Role & New Linemates

TODAY’S MATCHUP: The Kings face elimination for the first time this season, as they host the Colorado Avalanche for Game 4, trailing 3-0 in the series thus far.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Trevor Moore scored the first 5-on-5 goal of the series for the Kings in Game 3. Moore and his linemates – Quinton Byfield and Alex Laferriere – each have two points in three games played in the series overall. Forward Adrian Kempe scored his first goal of the series in Game 3, a power-play goal, building on a team-high three points versus Colorado in the regular season.

KINGS VITALS: With the afternoon puck drop, the Kings did not hold a morning skate in advance of today’s game.

Unconfirmed without a morning skate, but would expect to see Anton Forsberg retain the net here for Game 4. Forsberg has received the loss in each of the first three games in this series but has a .922 save percentage thus far in the series. Forsberg made 19 saves on 22 shots faced in the Game 3 defeat.

Here is a projected lineup for the Kings this evening, based on what we saw yesterday during practice –

Panarin – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Byfield – Laferriere
Turcotte – Laughton – Wright
Malott – Helenius – Ward

Anderson – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Dumoulin – Ceci

Forsberg/Kuemper

Looking at a couple of changes for the Kings from how they lined up during yesterday’s practice. Forwards Alex Turcotte and Taylor Ward could play in this series for the first time, with Andrei Kuzmenko and Joel Armia potentially coming out. Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith will address the media in advance of today’s game to potentially confirm.

AVALANCHE VITALS: Colorado can become the first team in the Western Conference to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a win today.

The Avalanche made one change for Game 3, with forward Ross Colton checking into the lineup. Sharing Thursday’s lineup for reference –

Round 1️⃣ Game 3️⃣ pic.twitter.com/t1c6ip5CRF

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) April 24, 2026

Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog has scored in consecutive games, including the game’s first goal in Game 3. Landeskog and forward Artturi Lehkonen are tied for the Colorado team lead with two goals each in the series thus far. Lehkonen had a multi-point night in Game 3 and leads his team with three points in the series (2-1-3).

Storyline Of The Day – Staying The Course, Raising The Level
If you’re looking for the LA Kings to open it up today and play differently in Game 4, you’re going to be disappointed.

If you ask Interim Head Coach D.J. Smith, he’s watched countless teams around the NHL try to open things up against the Avalanche. It’s ended poorly. Stylistically, he does not believe that the team will deviate all that much from how they’ve approached Games 1-3, but rather push for better execution.

“If you want to open it up, we’ve seen how that has gone for a lot of teams all year,” Smith said. “I just think we’ve got to be better at the low-event game to beat these guys. I told the guys today, we’ve just got to play our best game one time and then we’ll worry about the next game. We have to find a way to score more while playing the exact same defense. Is it hard? Yes. Are we going to give it everything we got? Yes. I think you’re going to see our best game in the series.”

The Kings certainly have to score more than one goal this afternoon to extend the series. They seem to understand that. But they don’t feel that they can deviate from the things they’ve done well in order to do so.

I think that happened a bit in the third period of Game 3 and it was maybe the most dominant Colorado period of the series. Certainly heavily tilted that way. When the Kings needed to continue doing what they were doing to try and breakthrough, they got away from the gameplan and it really deflated any sort of comeback effort that could’ve been in there. The first two periods of Game 3 showed what the Kings could create. They did not finish. But they created.

“We’ve got to stick to what we did in the first two periods,” forward Scott Laughton said, in advance of Game 3. “I thought we created, we made plays, we were on them. We had some good shots and we’ve had good chances, we’ve just got to put them in the back of the net.”

Now, facing elimination, the plan is simple. Not simple to execute, but simple in principle. They want to layer the offensive production onto the things they’ve done well, not drastically change the way that they’ve played in order to be in each game in the series thus far. Every game has been competitive and the Kings can’t compete in a shootout against a team with far more firepower throughout their lineup.

They have to play a better version of the style they’ve played thus far and it’ll have to start this afternoon, in order to see Game 5 on Wednesday in Denver.

“I think we’ve done some things so far that we’ve liked, we just haven’t gotten the results,” defenseman Mikey Anderson added. “This time of the year, it doesn’t really matter. You can say it feels good to do all of these good things, but if you don’t win the games, it’s the only thing that matters right now. We have a good mindset, guys are excited, we feel like we’re playing pretty good. We’ll come out and worry about winning one.”

3 To Watch For –
– A loss today would mark the end of Anze Kopitar’s NHL career.

Hard to really think about. But that’s where we’re at, in a 3-0 Colorado series lead.

“I’m hoping it’s not going to be,” Kopitar said of Game 4 potentially being his final game. “Can you every be emotionally prepared for that? Probably not. So, we’ll see.”

D.J. Smith believes he’ll see Kopitar’s best game of the series. Not surprising, considering his optimism and belief in his team, but also you’d think there wouldn’t be anything to leave in the tank for the captain. If not today for the Kings, there isn’t a tomorrow.

“I think you’ll see Kopi’s best game of the series,” Smith said of his captain. “I think having a two-day rest here for him, afternoon game, to me, he’s always been a really-good afternoon player. A couple days of rest, I think you’re going to see him give us his best game of the series.”

The Kings need their top guys to deliver and that includes Kopitar. He’s centering the team’s two best offensive players and that line has yet to score a goal during 5-on-5 play in this series through three games.

It’s not a pressure that Kopitar feels to produce more, though he admitted yesterday his best game includes getting on the scoresheet for the first time in the series. He’s faced elimination several times in his career before and he’s hoping this is not the last time. Go out, rely on his experience, play freely and see what happens.

“I’ve been in this situation before and there’s some experience there that I’ll maybe lean on to try and do my thing,” Kopitar added. “There’s most definitely no need to overthink anything. Now, it’s going out and trusting yourself, trust in the process and just play.”

– In making lineup changes, it creates another new line for Scott Laughton.

In Games 1 and 2, Laughton played with Joel Armia and Jared Wright. In Game 3, Andrei Kuzmenko took Wright’s place. In today’s Game 4, it looks as if Laughton’s linemates will be Wright and forward Alex Turcotte, who could be in line to make his series debut on that the left wing on that line.

For Laughton, he takes it all in stride. He plays his game and his game generally complements most players.

“It’s been like that pretty much my whole career,” Laughton said. “I think you play with different guys at this time of the year, you sort it out. I’ve played with a bunch of different guys now and you figure it out. You talk before and figure out where guys are and go from there. It’ll be good.”

That approach is one reason why the Kings are comfortable moving the pieces around on that line.

Laughton helps keep things together. He embraces any role. Whether he were to be the guy on the move, up or down in the lineup, or whether it’s the players around him moving, Laughton keeps his approach very similar and that’s the kind of trusting player who is easy to work things around.

“I think Scott is a really good teammate and I don’t think he cares where he plays, I think he just wants to win,” Smith said of Laughton. “I think that’s why so many people have talked so highly of him throughout the league. He’s played fourth-line win, he’s played second-line center. He’s a hockey player, he just wants to win. No matter who I put him with, or where I put him, he’s going to do whatever he has to for the team.”

Kings haven’t quite gotten the pieces right on that line yet in this series, outside of a good effort in Game 1. See if they can find anything here with the season on the line in Game 4.

– Lastly, rehashing this from last night’s story. Was probably more applicable here.

The all-time NHL history of teams surviving elimination in Game 4 goes against the Kings a bit. Per Hockey Reference, throughout NHL history, this scenario had happened 213 entering yesterday’s action and teams that trail 3-0 have around a 40 percent success rate in Game 4. It stands to reason. Typically, 3-0 series leads are held by teams with a substantial on-ice advantage, which is, well, why they won the first three games. 84 times of those 213, the series has been extended to Game 5, more routinely when the team is playing at home. So, if you believe in that sort of thing, it’s happened before and it will happen again. Just depends on whether or not it will happen tomorrow.

Yesterday, Pittsburgh extended its series to Game 5 with a 4-2 win over Philadelphia. Ottawa, on the other hand, lost 4-2 versus Carolina, becoming the first team eliminated from the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Kings will look to avoid becoming the second here this afternoon.

Kings and Avalanche. All on the line tonight with the end of the season potentially just 60 minutes away. See what Game 4 brings us.