MacKinnon leads Avalanche to 5-1 win and 1st-round sweep of LA Kings, ending Anze Kopitar's career

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and an assist, Nicolas Roy and Devon Toews scored in the third period, and the top-seeded Colorado Avalanche swept the Los Angeles Kings out of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 5-1 victory in Game 4 on Sunday.

Cale Makar also scored and Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves as the Presidents' Trophy-winning Avs advanced to face the winner of the heavyweight first-round series between Dallas and Minnesota.

Colorado coach Jared Bednar praised his team's defensive acumen after holding the defense-first Kings to five goals in four games, noting that his high-powered lineup would probably prefer to emphasize offense.

“It's not as fun to commit on the defensive side and really dig in there and spend a bunch of energy there to chip away at the game, but I think they bought into the way we needed to play the LA Kings,” Bednar said. “And that may change a little bit for the next opponent ... but they did a heck of a job playing the right way in order to win it.”

Colorado also ended the 20-year career of Kings captain Anze Kopitar, who announced his pending retirement in September.

The Slovenian center is the top scorer in franchise history and a two-time Selke Trophy winner, and he was a star on the Kings’ two Stanley Cup championship teams in 2012 and 2014 before spending the past decade as their captain. The Kings crowd repeatedly chanted “Kopi! Kopi!” in the final minutes of the blowout, and he got standing ovations when he came out for his final two shifts.

With a masterful four-game demonstration of the roster-wide talent on a team ready to win it all, Colorado earned at least five consecutive days off before the second round, and quite possibly more. The Wild and Stars are tied heading to Game 5 on Tuesday.

“(A sweep) just shows that we stuck to the details this entire series,” Makar said. “I felt like they were pushing us at times, and we were able to weather it. It's a good test for us. That's a stingy defensive team over there that has a lot of offensive threats, and we found different ways to shut them down.”

Joel Edmundson scored and Anton Forsberg stopped 27 shots for the Kings, whose fifth consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup playoffs ended with their eighth consecutive postseason defeat over the past two years and their seventh straight first-round exit since hoisting the Cup 12 years ago.

Although interim coach D.J. Smith was able to extend his team’s streak of postseason appearances with a late surge into the last wild-card spot, Los Angeles has not won a playoff round since raising the Stanley Cup for the second time.

“We fought hard, there's no doubt about that, but they're the best team in the league for a reason,” Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. “We were in games, but didn't ultimately get the job done. Proud of our effort.”

After scoring 53 goals in the regular season, MacKinnon got his first goal of these playoffs in the first period on a power play, ending the Avs’ 0 for 9 start to the series with the man advantage. Colorado never trailed in Game 4, putting it away with two goals in less than three minutes early in the third.

Although Los Angeles began the series by slowing down the powerhouse Avs and even holding MacKinnon to one assist in three games, the Kings scored just four goals while being pushed to the brink.

Makar glided past Taylor Ward early in the second period and fired a beautiful wrist shot for the Conn Smythe Trophy winner’s second goal in two games.

MacKinnon added an empty-net goal, giving him 57 goals in 99 career playoff games.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

Colorado Avalanche's Martin Necas (88) and Los Angeles Kings' Cody Ceci (5) chase the puck during the first period of Game 4 in the first round of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Scott Strazzante)

Colorado Avalanche's Gabriel Landeskog (92) and Martin Necas (88) battle Los Angeles Kings' Mikey Anderson (44) for the puck during the first period of Game 4 in the first round of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Scott Strazzante)

Los Angeles Kings' Anze Kopitar (11) celebrates a goal by Joel Edmundson against the Colorado Avalanche during the second period of Game 4 in the first round of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Scott Strazzante)

Colorado Avalanche's Devon Toews (7) celebrates his goal with Nathan MacKinnon (29) and Martin Necas (88) against the Los Angeles Kings during the third period of Game 4 in the first round of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Sunday, April 26, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Scott Strazzante)

Oil prices were up Monday as a standoff between the U.S. and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz remained despite a ceasefire, while Pakistan leaders were seeking to revive stalled talks between the two countries.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was in Russia Monday for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin as part of a trip that included two stops in Pakistan and a visit to Oman, which shares the strait with the Islamic Republic.

Pakistan-led mediators are working to bridge significant gaps between the U.S. and Iran, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

U.S. President Donald Trump canceled plans for his top envoys to travel to Islamabad this weekend for negotiations after Iran insisted the U.S. should end its blockade of Iranian ports before new talks can take place.

Early Monday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said it has so far turned around 38 ships during the blockade.

Since the war began, at least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran and at least 2,509 people in Lebanon, where the Israel-Hezbollah fighting resumed two days after the Iran war started.

Also, 23 people have been killed in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Fifteen Israeli soldiers in Lebanon, 13 U.S. service members in the region and six U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have been killed.

Here is the latest:

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday that his trip to Russia offered an opportunity to coordinate with Moscow after the war with Israel and the United States.

Araghchi made the comments in a pretaped interview posted by the state-run IRNA news agency.

“It is a good opportunity for us to consult with our Russian friends about the developments that have occurred in relation to the war during this period and what is happening now,” he said.

Araghchi said it was America’s approach that “caused the negotiations to be delayed” that had been planned in Islamabad.

“The previous one, despite the progress that had been made, could not achieve its goals,” he said, blaming what he called Washington’s “excessive demands.”

Trump has questioned who is in charge in Iran at the moment and said confusion within its theocracy made it difficult to reach a deal.

Iran’s top diplomat arrived Monday in Russia ahead of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The state-run IRNA news agency said Abbas Araghchi landed in St. Petersburg for his meeting with Putin.

Araghchi has visited Islamabad twice and Muscat, Oman, on the foreign trip as negotiations with the U.S. appear stalled over the Iran war.

Men ride a scooter while waving a Hezbollah flag during a small gathering in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A woman walks past an anti-U.S. graffiti painted on the wall of the Tehran University on Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) street in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iraqis Muslim women hold portraits of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, right, shakes hands with Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq during their meeting, in Muscat, Oman, Sunday, April 26, 2026. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)

Fadi Al Zein, left, who lost both his homes in Israeli strikes in his village of Khiam and in Dahiyeh, searches through the rubble of his heavily damaged home as a child stands nearby, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)