Down 3-0 and One Game From Elimination, Kings Swear They'll Show Up Sunday

The Los Angeles Kings are staring down the barrel of a first-round exit for the fifth straight postseason. They lost 4-2 to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night in Game 3 of the Western Conference quarterfinals, and now they're facing a 3-0 series deficit with Game 4 coming Sunday in Los Angeles. The Avs can sweep this thing in front of the home crowd.

Interim coach D.J. Smith met with reporters after the loss and did what coaches do when their season is on life support: he promised his team "will be ready to play" and insisted there's still "a lot of good things to like" about how they're competing. Sure, the result stings. But Smith said the Kings will be prepared, and the players will show up Sunday night.

Here's the brutal math: only four of the 213 teams that have fallen down 3-0 in a best-of-seven series have ever come back to win. The last team to pull it off? These same Kings, back in 2014. So yeah, it's possible. It's just incredibly unlikely.

The Defense Showed Up, But the Scoreboard Didn't

Going into this series, the Kings had something to hang their hat on. They finished the regular season allowing the fewest shots and high-danger chances in the league, with the third-best team save percentage in 5-on-5 play. That defensive structure, paired with goalie Anton Forsberg's performances, actually worked early. The Avs were held to just two goals per game through the first two contests, a far cry from their regular season average of 3.63 goals per game.

The problem? The Kings have scored exactly two goals across the first three games of this series, one in each game. That's how you end up down 2-0. On Thursday, Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog put the Avs ahead 1-0 in the first period before L.A.'s Trevor Moore tied it up on a deflected shot in the second. But that's not enough when you're playing for your playoff life.

One More Chance in LA

Sunday brings Game 4 to Los Angeles, and Smith is banking on his team finding answers at the offensive end. The defense has done its job. The goaltending has held strong. Now the Kings need to generate some actual scoring chances and convert them, or they're watching another first-round exit become official.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.