LOS ANGELES — The Kings made another leap toward home ice in the first round of the playoffs, taking advantage of the Colorado Avalanche’s depleted lineup to prevail 5-4 at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday afternoon.

They took a two-goal lead, retroceded it and then twice re-established it to ultimately move four points ahead of the Oilers for second place in the Pacific. Those rivals will square off in Edmonton on Monday. The Kings sat four points back of division-leading Vegas, pending the Golden Knights’ result against Nashville late Saturday night.

Colorado was missing at least eight players because of injury or rest, including their No. 1 center and top four defensemen: Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Jonathan Drouin, Josh Manson, Ryan Lindgren, Ross Colton and Miles Wood. Colorado is locked into a first-round matchup with the Stars that’ll kick off in Dallas.

“I’ll take every win. They were missing a few guys, but they’re a pretty good team (even) without those guys,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “It just goes to show you the depth that they have. It’s going to be a heck of a series with Dallas. I’ll take that win all day long.”

Kevin Fiala scored two goals while Quinton Byfield and Alex Laferriere notched a goal and two assists apiece in a contest wherein their line percolated early and often. Anže Kopitar produced a goal and Andrei Kuzmenko contributed two assists to accumulate 12 points in his past seven outings. Darcy Kuemper snapped his streak of two or fewer goals allowed at 15 appearances, giving up four on 26 shots.

Brock Nelson bookended the scoring for Colorado with a power-play marker and a point-blank tally. In between, Valeri Nichushkin scored a goal and assisted on one by Sam Malinski. Artturi Lehkonen chipped in two assists. Mackenzie Blackwood made 28 saves.

Kuemper started the Kings off on the right foot by foiling Lehkonen with a fast-switch pad save. Yet the first period was far from a goaltending clinic as 11 combined shots elicited three goals, two of them by the Kings.

Consecutive penalties were a theme, with Colorado taking two in a row following the Kings’ opening blow and the Kings being whistled twice in 22 seconds in the middle of the period. The Kings faced seven shorthanded situations in four periods after facing seven in the previous four games.

Byfield scored 4:03 after the puck dropped, getting the game’s first goal for a third straight time. Kuzmenko earned the primary assist with a slick pass that he turned back from below the right circle to Byfield between the hash marks for his career-best 22nd goal.

Kuzmenko got his fifth assist in four periods with another helper. He found Fiala flying into the zone and into the high slot, where his show-and-go move shook Parker Kelly, allowing him to find both a lane and an angle for his 33rd goal of the season.

Colorado grabbed a goal back from its extended two-man advantage. The first of two first-period penalties for Kyle Burroughs and Trevor Moore’s infraction left the Kings vulnerable for three of the Avs’ in-season additions: Nelson, Charlie Coyle and Martin Necas. Coyle feathered a cross-ice pass for Nelson’s 300th career goal. Burroughs was on the ice for the second goal and the Kings dropped to five defensemen immediately afterward. In the end, Burroughs had more penalty minutes (4:00) than ice time (3:42).

The Kings responded with two unanswered goals at 10:57 and 16:02.

Byfield’s faceoff win allowed Brandt Clarke to zip down below the right faceoff circle and slide a pass into the slot for a one-timer that became Laferriere’s personal-best 18th goal of the year.

Kopitar made it consecutive games with a goal, this time netting his 21st marker of 2024-25 with a backhanded bid to clean up Adrian Kempe’s rebound.

In the third period, the two teams traded goals with Malinski halving the Avalanche’s deficit off a silky setup from Nichushkin off the rush at 9:18 before Nelson scored in tight with 2:40 to play.

Between Colorado’s successful forays, Fiala deposited what would stand as the game-winner.