Colorado Avalanche complete sweep of Los Angeles Kings - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — 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 ended the 20-year career of Kings captain Anze Kopitar, who announced in September he would retire at season's end.

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 built to win it all, Colorado advanced to face the winner of the heavyweight first-round series between Dallas and Minnesota. Those clubs are tied heading to Game 5 on Tuesday, meaning the Avs will get at least five consecutive days off before the second round, and quite possibly more.

Until then, MacKinnon and the Avalanche will rest and prepare. The Colorado first-line center, according to ESPN Research, produced his 15th career playoff game with three or more points, which is three games shy of the franchise record.

Colorado played Game 4 without defenseman Josh Manson, who sustained an upper-body injury in the first period of Game 3 Friday night. In his place, Nick Blankenburg made his playoff debut and slotted into Colorado's third defense pairing, alongside Brent Burns.

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