Sports
Avs to put 'dangerous' offense up against upset-minded Kings
Apr 7, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Colorado Avalanche center Martin Necas (88) celebrates with center Nathan MacKinnon (29) after scoring against the St. Louis Blues during the first period at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images The Colorado Avalanche are prohibitive favorites in their first round Western Conference Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings, which begins with Game 1 on Sunday at Denver.
The Avalanche (55-16-11, 121 points) won the Presidents’ Trophy as the team with the best regular-season record. They also led all teams with 302 goals and have a gallery of stars led by NHL-leading goal scorer Nathan MacKinnon, who tallied 53 times on the season and finished with 127 points.
Colorado’s Martin Necas reached 100 points (38 goals, 62 assists), while defenseman Cale Makar, a two-time Norris Trophy winner, had 20 goals with 59 assists.
Colorado’s calling card is a relentless attack with speed and skill.
“We’ve always been a dangerous offensive team, whether we’re finishing top five in the league, usually because of some of the players that we have and the way we play and the style we play,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “We tend to create a lot of offense, so that’s something we’ve been proud of over the years.”
Goalies Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood shared the William M. Jennings Trophy, which is awarded to the goaltenders who play at least 25 games for the team allowing the fewest goals each season. Colorado gave up 203.
The Kings (35-27-20, 90 points) have the fewest points among the 16 playoff teams but came alive late by going on eight-game point streak (6-0-2) before dropping their season finale. Los Angeles scored 225 goals but allowed 247.
These are the Stanley Cup playoffs, though, when first-round upsets have become legendary.
“They have the good players; they finished first in the regular season but we’re a scrappy team. We keep it close with everybody and that can really frustrate them,” Los Angeles defenseman Brandt Clarke said. “If we play our style, it’s going to be a tight series, it’s going to be tight games, so we’re looking forward to it.
“In the playoffs it comes down to that, it comes down to one shot. You never know which way it’s going to go. We have the utmost belief in our group of guys that we can pull off anything.”
Colorado’s production goes well beyond MacKinnon, Necas and Makar. Brock Nelson had 65 points (33 goals, 32 assists) and Nazem Kadri, who was acquired at the trading deadline from the Calgary Flames, had a combined 50 points (16 goals, 34 assists).
Kings coach D.J. Smith, who took over on an interim basis March 6 when Jim Hiller was fired, knows what his team must do to have a chance.
“We’re going to have to weather the storm,” said Smith, who played 34 of his 45 career NHL games with the Avalanche in 2002-03. “There are going to be times when they’re really going to come at us.
“They have five, six, seven of the best players in the world over there, but the one thing we’ve always been able to do is play defense. We’re going to have to defend real hard and then when we get opportunities we’re going to have to sting them.”
Kings forward Artemi Panarin delivered 27 points (nine goals, 18 assists) for his new team in 26 games after he was acquired from the New York Rangers on Feb. 4. Adrian Kempe had 73 points (36 goals, 37 assists), and Quinton Byfield had 49 points (24 goals, 25 assists).
–Field Level Media
Sports
Team Vitality, Team Spirit to clash in IEM Rio grand final
A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.
Jordan Woodruff
Team Vitality and Team Spirit advanced to the grand final with semifinal victories Saturday at the $300,000 Intel Extreme Masters Rio event in Brazil.
Vitality blanked FURIA and Spirit did the same to Team Falcons. FURIA and Team Falcons will meet in the third-place match on Sunday before Vitality and Spirit face off in the grand final.
Sixteen Counter-Strike 2 teams have been competing this week for a top prize of $125,000.
The double-elimination group stage began with two groups of eight teams, with all matches best-of-three. The group winners advanced to the playoff semifinals, with the group runners-up entering the quarterfinals as high seeds and the third-place teams entering the quarterfinals as low seeds.
In the single-elimination playoffs, all matches have been best-of-three until Sunday’s best-of-five grand final.
On Saturday, Vitality took out FURIA 13-10 on both Overpass and Ancient. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut of France paced the winning side with a 49-27 kill-death differential. For FURIA, Kaike “KSCERATO” Cerato of Brazil posted a 36-28 K-D differential.
Spirit cruised past Team Falcons 13-7 on Dust II and 13-4 on Mirage, led by Russian Boris “magixx” Vorobiev’s K-D differential of 31-17. Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov of Russia led Falcons with a 28-27 K-D differential.
Play continues Sunday with the final two matches:
–Team Vitality vs. Team Spirit (grand final)
–FURIA vs. Team Falcons (third-place match)
IEM Rio prize pool:
1. $125,000
2. $50,000
3. $30,000
4. $20,000
5-6. $12,500 — MOUZ, Natus Vincere
7-8. $7,000 — G2 Esports, Aurora Gaming
9-12. $5,000 — RED Canids, 3DMAX, B8, HOTU
13-16. $4,000 — Gentle Mates, Team Liquid, Passion UA, Legacy
–Field Level Media
Sports
Team Falcons, BetBoom Team start fast at Wallachia Season 8
Xtreme Gaming, PARIVISION, Team Falcons and BetBoom Team won in sweeps as the PGL Wallachia Season 8 group stage opened on Saturday in Bucharest, Romania.
Other winners, by 2-1 scores, were Team Spirit, Team Liquid Aurora Gaming and HEROIC.
The $1 million Dota 2 tournament began Saturday with the 16-team group stage, which concludes Wednesday. Eight teams advance to the double-elimination playoffs on April 23-26. All matches are best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final.
Xtreme Gaming knocked off Natus Vincere in 44 and 34 minutes, both on green. PARIVISION took down MOUZ in 26 and 43 minutes, both on green.
BetBoom Team swept Virtus.pro in 34 and 40 minutes, both on green. Team Falcons dispatched Team Yandex in 49 minutes on green and 36 minutes on red.
Team Spirit dropped its opening map on green in 33 minutes to Vici Gaming, then rallied with wins in 58 minutes on red and 38 minutes on green.
Team Liquid won in 46 minutes, fell to GamerLegion in 39 minutes, then won the deciding map in 48 minutes — all winning teams on red.
Aurora Gaming took the opener in 41 minutes on red, then South America Rejects drew even with a 24-minute victory on green before Aurora triumphed in 32 minutes on red.
HEROIC started fast in 32 minutes on green, then Tundra Esports won a marathon of 65 minutes on green before HEROIC won in 39 minutes on red.
Sunday’s Round 2 schedule for 1-0 teams:
–Xtreme Gaming vs. Aurora Gaming
–Team Liquid vs. BetBoom Team
–Team Spirit vs. Team Falcons
–PARIVISION vs. HEROIC
Round 2 for 0-1 teams
–Vici Gaming vs. Natus Vincere
–MOUZ vs. GamerLegion
–Team Yandex vs. South America Rejects
–Tundra Esports vs. Virtus.pro
PGL Wallachia Season 8 prize pool:
1. $300,000 — TBD
2. $175,000 — TBD
3. $120,000 — TBD
4. $80,000 — TBDt
5-6. $60,000 — TBD
7-8. $40,000 — TBD
9-11. $20,000 — TBD
12-14. $15,000 — TBD
15-16. $10,000 — TBD
–Field Level Media
Sports
Surge, Gentle Mates unbeaten in CDL Stage 3 Major qualifying
A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.
Jordan Woodruff
The Paris Gentle Mates and Vancouver Surge are atop the standings at 2-0 after Saturday, the second day of qualifying for the Call of Duty League’s Stage 3.
The Surge outlasted the Carolina Royal Ravens 3-2, while Paris topped G2 Minnesota 3-1.
FaZe Vegas swept Boston Breach 3-0 to open play, and Toronto KOI got the better of the Riyadh Falcons 3-1 in the other match of the day.
The 12 Call of Duty League teams are playing a full qualifying round robin to determine seeding for the third major of the season, to be held May 15-17 as part of the DreamHack Atlanta event.
On Saturday, FaZe Vegas dominated Boston Breach, winning 250-98 on Sake Hardpoint, 6-3 on Fringe Search and Destroy and 3-2 on Scar Overload.
Toronto KOI started strong, winning 250-183 on Den Hardpoint and 6-2 on Plaza Search and Destroy before the Riyadh Falcons notched a 4-3 decision on Exposure Overload. Toronto closed out the match with a 250-179 victory on Sake Hardpoint.
The Paris Gentle Mates opened with a narrow 250-230 win on Sake Hardpoint before G2 Minnesota responded with a 6-4 win on Scar Search and Destroy. Paris edged Minnesota 6-5 on Den Overload before taking Colossus Hardpoint 250-157.
The Vancouver Surge emerged from a back-and-forth battle with the Carolina Royal Ravens. The Surge won on Sake Hardpoint (250-233) and Fringe Search and Destroy (6-1), then the Royal Ravens drew even with victories on Scar Overload (3-2) and Gridlock Hardpoint (250-223). Vancouver secured the victory with a 6-1 triumph on Plaza Search and Destroy.
Sunday’s schedule:
–Toronto KOI vs. Boston Breach
–Riyadh Falcons vs. FaZe Vegas
–OpTic Texas vs. Cloud9 New York
Call of Duty League Stage 3 Major qualifying, with match record and map differential
T1. Paris Gentle Mates, 2-0, 6-2
T1. Vancouver Surge, 2-0, 6-2
3. FaZe Vegas, 1-0, 3-0
T4. Los Angeles Thieves, 1-0, 3-1
T4. Toronto KOI, 1-0, 3-1
T6. Cloud9 New York, 0-0, 0-0
T6. OpTic Texas, 0-0, 0-0
T8. Miami Heretics, 0-1, 1-3
T8. Riyadh Falcons, 0-1, 1-3
T10. Boston Breach, 0-1, 0-3
11. Carolina Royal Ravens, 0-2, 3-6
12. G2 Minnesota, 0-2, 1-6
–Field Level Media
Team Vitality, Team Spirit to clash in IEM Rio grand final
Team Falcons, BetBoom Team start fast at Wallachia Season 8
