Toews breaks tie in 3rd, Avalanche deny Kings in Smith's 1st game as coach

Devon Toews scored the go-ahead goal with 4:55 remaining in the third period for the Colorado Avalanche, who spoiled D.J. Smith's first game as coach by defeating the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Monday.

Toews took a return pass from Nathan MacKinnon just outside the crease and shot past Anton Forsberg's blocker for his second goal of the season.

Martin Necas then scored a power-play goal into an empty net with two seconds left for the 4-2 final.

“That was just really a test of our patience,” Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “Adversity is never a bad thing, so I thought for us we did a good job of responding. ... I thought we did a good job of sticking with it.”

Necas and Landeskog each had a goal and two assists, MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 19 saves for the Avalanche (40-10-9), who have won four of five.

“Anytime you play against a team that’s just made a change like that, you know there’s going to be some heightened desperation there,” Landeskog said. “I thought overall it was a good game.”

Colorado is the first team in the NHL to reach 40 wins this season. It is the fourth time the Avalanche have done so since relocating in 1995-96, and they went on to win the Stanley Cup in two of the previous three instances (2000-01, 2021-22).

“I think we had a pretty special start of the year, the first half,” Landeskog said. “But I think, as a group, you’re really only as good as you are to this point, as you are today and as you continue to play moving forward. So, we haven’t done anything yet. As a group, I think we have high expectations and high standards in our locker room, and that’s the way it’s going to continue to be.”

Angus Booth scored in his NHL debut for the Kings (24-22-14), who have lost six of seven (1-5-1). Forsberg made 35 saves.

“You need the points, for sure, but at this point you can’t fault the effort, and we’re going to need that every game,” said Smith, who was named Los Angeles' interim coach on Sunday after Jim Hiller was fired.

MacKinnon put the Avalanche ahead 1-0 at 4:27 of the first period, burying a one-timer from the left circle off a saucer pass from Necas on a 2-on-1 rush.

Landeskog made it 2-0 at 10:13 with a one-timer blocker side from above the circles off a feed from Brent Burns.

“I liked our game a lot tonight,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “I thought the MacKinnon line with Necas and Landeskog was outstanding. Dangerous the whole night right from the get-go, didn’t really let up the entire night.”

Brandt Clarke cut it to 2-1 on a power play at 17:20 of the first, scoring through a screen with a long shot that hit off Burns’ stick.

Anze Kopitar had the primary assist on the play. It was his 1,302nd point (446 goals, 856 assists in 1,499 career games), moving him to within five of tying Marcel Dionne for the Kings franchise record.

Booth tied it 2-2 at 8:32 of the second period. The 21-year-old defenseman tipped in Brian Dumoulin’s backdoor pass at the top of the crease.

Booth is the fourth defenseman in Kings history to score in his League debut. He finished the game with a plus-1 rating in 12:18 of ice time.

“It was a good read by him finding open ice, especially with, we had a couple guys high already, so it was good for him to slide down and find that back post,” Dumoulin said. “I mean, I thought he played really well tonight. He was poised with the puck, didn’t just throw it away, and I was impressed by him.”

Kings forward Quinton Byfield was a late scratch because of an upper-body injury. Los Angeles was also without defenseman Drew Doughty (lower body), forward Trevor Moore (illness), goaltender Darcy Kuemper (illness) and forward Joel Armia (upper body), who was placed on injured reserve on Monday.

“That’s the best team in the League and they’re 100 percent healthy, and they’re coming in here playing as good as they have played all year. Our job was we weren’t going to just sit back and let them take it to us,” Smith said. “Now, it didn’t look good early, we made some mistakes, we gave up too many odd-man rushes, but what you saw from that group is a real effort to forecheck, a real effort to get pucks back, to hunt, to hit people, and you’re going to see that the rest of the way.”

NOTES: In addition to Booth, Kings forwards Kenny Connors and Jared Wright also made their NHL debut. Connors had four shots in 10:14 of ice time, and Wright played 9:42. ... Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen sustained an upper-body injury in the first period and did not return. Lehkonen will not play at the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday and is set to miss time. “He’s not going to be an option for tomorrow. I haven’t got the full report on him, but he’s going to be out and miss some time," Bednar said.