LOS ANGELES (AP) — Devon Toews scored the tiebreaking goal late in the third period, Martin Necas added an empty-netter to go with two assists, and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 on Monday night.
Toews got free in the slot and converted Nathan MacKinnon’s pass with 4:55 remaining to help the Avalanche (40-10-9) become the first NHL team with 40 wins this season.
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Los Angeles Kings center Samuel Helenius, top, and Colorado Avalanche center Parker Kelly fight during the second period of an NHL hockey game Monday, March 2, 2026 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Los Angeles Kings defenseman Angus Booth, right, celebrates with left wing Artemi Panarin after scoring his first career goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Colorado Avalanche Monday, March 2, 2026 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon celebrates with the bench after scoring during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Los Angeles Kings Monday, March. 2, 2026 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog, left, celebrate with defenseman Cale Makar, defenseman Brent Burns, and center Nathan MacKinnon after scoring during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Los Angeles Kings Monday, March, 2, 2026 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
MacKinnon also scored his league-leading 41st goal, and Gabriel Landeskog had a goal and two assists. Mackenzie Blackwood made 19 saves for Colorado, which has won five of seven.
Brandt Clarke had a power-play goal, Angus Booth scored in his NHL debut, and Anton Forsberg made 35 saves for the Kings, who were playing their first game since firing coach Jim Hiller on Sunday and replacing him on an interim basis with D.J. Smith.
Los Angeles was also missing seven key players because of injury or illness, including medalists from the Olympic hockey tournament at the Milan Cortina Games in defenseman Drew Doughty, forward Joel Armia and goalie Darcy Kuemper. Those absences led to the Kings giving three players their NHL debuts in Booth, center Kenny Connors and winger Jared Wright.
The Avalanche capitalized early, scoring twice in the opening 10:13 on one-timers from MacKinnon and Landeskog, before Los Angeles responded with a power-play goal from Clarke late in the first period.
An early whistle wiped out Necas putting in a rebound early in the second, and Booth got to the top of the crease to tip in Brian Dumoulin’s centering pass to tie it 2-all at 8:32.
Avalanche: Visit the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.
Kings: Host the New York Islanders on Thursday.
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Los Angeles Kings center Samuel Helenius, top, and Colorado Avalanche center Parker Kelly fight during the second period of an NHL hockey game Monday, March 2, 2026 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Los Angeles Kings defenseman Angus Booth, right, celebrates with left wing Artemi Panarin after scoring his first career goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Colorado Avalanche Monday, March 2, 2026 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon celebrates with the bench after scoring during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Los Angeles Kings Monday, March. 2, 2026 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog, left, celebrate with defenseman Cale Makar, defenseman Brent Burns, and center Nathan MacKinnon after scoring during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Los Angeles Kings Monday, March, 2, 2026 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
As the war in the Middle East intensifies, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the U.S. has “the capability to go far longer" than its projected four-to-five-week time frame for its military operations against Iran.
Across Tehran, the sound of explosions rang out through the night and into the early morning hours Tuesday, as the U.S. and Israel have continued to pound Iran since killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Tehran and its allies have hit back against Israel, neighboring Gulf states, and targets critical to the world’s production of oil and natural gas.
The intensity of the attacks and the lack of any apparent exit plan set the stage for a prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences. Israel and the U.S. have given conflicting answers about what exactly the war’s objectives are or what the endgame might be.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Monday defended the decision to go to war, contending in an interview on Fox News Channel’s "Hannity" that Iran was rebuilding “new sites, new places” that would make “their ballistic missile program and their atomic bomb program immune within months,” without providing evidence.
Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed limited activity at two nuclear sites in Iran before the war, with analysts saying it was likely Tehran was trying to assess damage from American strikes in June and possibly salvage what remained there.
Here is the latest:
The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait is shutting down as the Middle East is grabbed in a widening war.
The embassy said in a social media post Tuesday that it is closing “until further notice” due to the war.
Iran on Tuesday held a mass funeral ceremony for 165 people killed in what it described as an attack on a girls’ school in the southern city of Minab.
Iranian state television showed thousands of people filling a public square. Men waved the Islamic Republic flag while largely standing apart from women draped in black chadors.
From the stage, a women who said she was the mother of “Atena” held up a printed image of portraits that she called “a document of American crimes.” She added, “They died in the way of God.”
The crowd erupted into chants of “Death to America,” “Death to Israel” and “No surrender.”
U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said he was aware of reports that a girls’ school was struck and officials were looking into them.
An Israeli military spokesperson said Sunday he was not aware of any Israeli or U.S. strikes in the area.
Qatar Airways said it would remain grounded Tuesday over the war.
Amazon said Monday that two of its data centers in United Arab Emirates were hit by drones, while a drone strike near one of its facilities in Bahrain “caused physical impacts to our infrastructure.”
The tech giant said on its website that the strikes have caused structural damage and gotten in the way of power getting to infrastructure. The company did not say who was responsible for the strikes.
“We are working to restore full service availability as quickly as possible, though we expect recovery to be prolonged given the nature of the physical damage involved,” Amazon said.
Iran is continuing to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Perisan Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes.
Brig. Gen. Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, issued the threat on Iranian state television on Monday.
“The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Anyone who wants to pass, our devotee heroes in the IRGC navy and the army will set those ships on fire,” he said. “Don’t come to this region.”
The Israeli military said Tuesday it was conducting “simultaneous targeted strikes against military targets in Tehran and Beirut,” without elaborating.
The U.S. State Department said it added Iraq to the evacuation list from its Mideast diplomatic outposts.
The U.S. State Department on Tuesday ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Bahrain and Jordan.
The State Department announcement online said the decision came “due to safety risks.” The department has urged Americans across the Mideast to leave over the ongoing war with Iran.
The U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia acknowledged coming under attack from Iranian drones Tuesday and urged Americans to avoid the diplomatic post for the time being.
The Saudi Defense Ministry earlier Tuesday said the embassy was attacked by two drones.
Across Iran’s capital, the sound of explosions rang out throughout the night into the early morning hours.
Witnesses described hearing aircraft overhead as well.
It wasn’t immediately clear what had been hit.
Iranian state television early Tuesday read a statement from the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, saying that it launched a missile and drone attack targeting an air base in Bahrain.
Israeli airstrikes hit the Lebanese capital Tuesday morning.
The Israeli military said it was targeting “Hezbollah command centers and weapons storage facilities in Beirut.”
Hezbollah also said it launched drones targeting an Israeli air base.
The Israeli military said it downed two drones.
Tokyo has told Japanese shipowners to have their ships stay away from the Persian Gulf to ensure the safety of their crew members.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters Tuesday that the Transport Ministry has notified the Japanese Shipowners’ Association to do the utmost to protect crews on board the ships in the region.
Kihara said those already in the Gulf are urged to lie at anchor where it is safe to do so.
On Monday, Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi met with Iranian ambassador to Japan Peiman Seadat and conveyed Japan’s consistent stance that Iran must stop attacks on neighboring countries and other actions destabilizing the region.
Motegi also noted the importance of ensuring safety in the Strait of Hormuz, which is key to Japan’s energy security.
Iran’s top diplomat early Tuesday sought to turn the tables on the United States, describing it as entering “a war of choice on behalf of Israel.”
After Trump urged Iranians to take over their government, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made the same call to Americans.
“Shedding of both American and Iranian blood is thus on Israel Firsters,” Araghchi wrote on X. “American people deserve better and should take back their country.”
This partially redacted image from video provided by U.S. Central Command shows a complex of structures in Iran being struck by missiles fired by U.S. forces on Sunday, March 1, 2026. (U.S. Central Command via AP)
President Donald Trump walks past Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as he exist the East Room of the White House following the Medal of Honor ceremony, Monday, March 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Rescue workers carry a dead body in a plastic bag from a building that was hit by Israeli strike, in Jnah neighborhood, south of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A poster of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the ongoing joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign, and the late Iranian Revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, right, lays on a motorcycle amid debris left by a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Plumes of smoke from two simultaneous strikes rise over Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji)
