LOS ANGELES — Here they go again.
For the second straight year, the Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche are headed back to Denver for a Game 7.
Los Angeles goalie Felix Potvin, outshining Colorado's Patrick Roy, made 23 saves Saturday as the Kings beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche 3-1 to even the first-round playoff series at three games apiece.
And for the second season in a row, Game 7 between the two teams will be played in Denver, this time on Monday night.
Jason Allison scored just 1:21 into the game, and Brad Chartrand gave Los Angeles a 2-0 lead at the 6:44 mark with the first playoff goal of his career. Bryan Smolinski built the Kings' advantage to 3-0 at 6:19 of the second, then Riku Hahl got Colorado's lone goal against Potvin at 9:37 of the period.
The win mirrored the Kings' playoff comeback of last year, when they also fell behind Colorado 3-1 in their second-round series before winning two straight — both on Potvin's shutouts. The Avalanche then won the deciding game 5-1.
Los Angeles coach Andy Murray said his team probably couldn't take much from last year's Game 7 "because we lost it."
"So we're looking at this as a new opportunity, a new challenge, and obviously we're in a situation where most people in the hockey world didn't think we would be," Murray said.
Colorado coach Bob Hartley and Murray were jawing at each other near the end of the game, and Hartley grew testy when he was asked about Murray.
The Avalanche coach said essentially that he had heard enough about Murray during the series, and that reporters instead should ask questions about the players. Asked again about Murray, Hartley said he couldn't waste time on someone who was "4-foot-6."
Murray is about 5-foot-9.
This year, Potvin shut out the Avalanche 1-0 in Game 5 after Roy had blanked the Kings by the same score to put Colorado up 3-1 in the series.
"We have to remember what has made us successful the last two games, and that is the attitude that we have to have in Game 7," Potvin said.
Colorado was without its offensive sparkplug, center Peter Forsberg, for Saturday's game. Forsberg was a late scratch because of a leg injury sustained in Thursday's loss.
After missing the entire regular season because of a leave of absence and foot injuries, Forsberg had returned for the opening playoff round and led the Avalanche to victories in the first two games.
Hartley said he didn't know if Forsberg will play in Game 7, saying his status would be determined by the medical staff.
Asked specifically what the injury was, Hartley said, "It's a leg injury. We won't go into further details."
Despite letting the Kings win the last two to climb back into the series, the Avalanche players seem confident.
"We have a Game 7 and we get to go home," said Colorado defenseman Rob Blake, formerly with the Kings. "We've got to find a way to win. We've been there before, been in this position before, and we've won."
The Kings, who gave up nine goals in the first two games of the series, have played solid defense in front of Potvin for the past four games. They killed six Colorado power plays in Game 6 and haven't allowed a goal in 17 power plays going back to the first period of Game 2.