Avalanche forward Nicolas Roy’s immediate reaction to scoring Game 2 OT winner

Nicolas Roy was the hero, scoring at 7:44 of overtime as the Colorado Avalanche retained home-ice advantage and beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 to open up a 2-0 lead in their first-round series at Ball Arena on Tuesday night.

Things looked precarious after Artemi Panarin gave the Kings a 1-0 advantage on the powerplay with under eight minutes to play. But Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog knotted the score late in the frame, and Roy called game during a netmouth scramble in the fourth period.

“I like to be in this area, and a lot of those goals are scored there. So I try to be there as much as I can,” the 29-year-old said afterwards, per NHL.com’s Ryan Boulding. “We’re comfortable playing these type of games, especially in playoffs. A team like LA, we knew it wasn’t going to be a high-scoring game.”

Roy was acquired by the Avs ahead of the trade deadline from the Toronto Maple Leafs, with a first-round draft pick in 2027 and a fifth-round selection in 2026 going back to Ontario. He helped the Vegas Golden Knights win a Stanley Cup in 2023, and is now making an impact with the President’s Trophy winners early in this postseason.

Both games in Denver have ended 2-1, and both times, Colorado has found a way to come out on top. It’s been a tight-checking, defensive-minded series, which now shifts to Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

“Playoffs are going to be hard. It’s a really good team over there,” said Nathan MacKinnon, who was held off the scoresheet in Game 2. “They’re playing hard. We’re playing hard. It’s low scoring, but it’s fun hockey. I thought we played pretty solid. I thought we had a lot of good looks, generating a ton. Their goalie has been really good. Our goalie has been really good. Need to find a way to steal Game 3 here.”

Although the Avalanche are heavy favorites to win the series — and the odds-on favorite to win the Stanley Cup — the Kings deserve a lot of credit for keeping the first two games close.

The two Western Conference rivals will now travel to California ahead of Game 3, which is set for just past 10:00 p.m. ET on Thursday night.

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