D.J. Smith's Kings Face Avalanche in Playoff Test

0:00It's April 20th. Welcome to California News Today, powered by AI. DJ Smith is living his childhood dream as head coach of the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The 48-year-old from Windsor, Ontario, grew up glued to Detroit Red Wing's games across the river, hyped for that first playoff round like it. What's Christmas? Now he's calling the shots after steering the Kings to a wildcard spot, but they dropped a tight two-to-one decision to the top-seated Colorado. Avalanche in Game 1, Sunday, in Denver. Smith took over as interim coach with 23 games left in the regular season after Jim Hiller got fired. He flipped the script, grabbing points in 17 of those games to sneak past two teams and into the postseason. Before LA, he ran the bench in Ottawa for parts of five seasons without playoff runs, but his experience made him the perfect backup plan here. Players loved the shift more aggression, physicality, and team vibe. Captain Anzacopitar says Smith changed the energy from sitting back to pushing forward,

1:03and young forward Quentin Byfield notes they bonded tight. That showed in Game 1, where they bottled up Colorado's high-powered attack, one special teams, and kept the league's best score quiet. Still, a third-period breakaway goal sealed the loss, so Smith's already tweaking the game plan. He wants more net drives, harder hits on their defense, better forechecking, and extra zone time. Might even suit up Andre Kuzminko, fresh off Meniska surgery for that offensive boost in Game 2 Tuesday. The Kings head home for games 3 and 4 at Crypto.com, Arena, facing a real test against Avalanche. If Smith gets them past the first round, something no Kings coach has done in over a decade, he could turn that interim tag permanent and make these. Playoffs, Legendary.