LOS ANGELES — Rarely does a 10-second clip inside a hockey game tell the story of an entire playoff series, let alone one that doesn’t feature a goal or even a momentum-shifting save.

But there was Artemi Panarin, architect of three extra-man goals in the first three games, collecting the puck along the left wall with the desperate Los Angeles Kings on the power play and hoping to find another opening to give his club a much-needed advantage in the first period of Game 4. Ten seconds later, Panarin was in hockey hell.

He had traversed the top of the offensive zone with Artturi Lehkonen hounding and harassing him through every inch of ice covered. By the end, Lehkonen had boxed him into a corner, using the blue line and the Avalanche bench to trap the talented Russian.

Lehkonen knocked the puck away from Panarin for a second time and then was able to will it out of the defensive zone as Quentin Byfield arrived. Two Kings were still standing while Lehkonen lay on the ice, but the job was done, the puck was out of danger and a message was sent.

The Kings might have been the team down 3-0 in this series, but the Avs were still prepared to check Los Angeles into an early offseason.

“I thought we just came out and we wanted to bring our best effort,” Avs captain Gabe Landeskog said after a 5-1 victory gave the Avs a series sweep. “We knew they were going to come. I felt we weathered the storm early on and obviously getting one on the power play in the first, that can kind of calm the nerves a little bit and settle us in.

“It’s not easy to close a team out, especially in their building, a desperate team. But I thought we did a good job and settled in nicely to the game. Everybody contributed. We did what we needed to do.”

After it was over, Los Angeles coach D.J. Smith did not hide his admiration for what Colorado accomplished in the series. Smith and the Kings were huge underdogs. They determined they had one chance to sling their stone and knock Goliath down.

It involved checking and hitting the Avs into frustration, into making mistakes that would help the Kings find an opening to prolong the series. For nearly four full games, the Kings were happy with how they stuck to the game plan, proud of the effort it required to keep the high-flying Avalanche close.

In the end, it didn’t work. Goliath did not flinch.

“They didn’t make a lot of mistakes that a lot of teams make,” Smith said. “We stayed with, especially in our building. We stayed with it, and a lot of times, teams will crack when they don’t get the offense. They’ll crack, and they’ll start to cheat. And they didn’t.

“Given them credit. It’s not offense. They have offense. They have lots. But it’s how they check and how well they defend.”

Smith noted that his team had one breakaway in the series, and it came shorthanded. The closest thing to an odd-man rush was a partial 2-on-1.

It’s hard to get through one NHL game without allowing those types of chances. The Avs suffocated the Kings for much of the four games.

When the Kings found a push, Scott Wedgewood was the final source of frustration. Wedgwood made exactly 24 saves in every game, a statistical oddity but also another theme. The Avs held the Kings to 25 or 26 shots on goal in every game. No matter how hard the Kings checked or pushed, they ended up back in the same spot.

Los Angeles never scored back-to-back goals at any point in the series. The Kings led for 3 minutes, 21 seconds, in a game where they kept the Avs off the scoreboard for more than 56 minutes, yet still lost, 2-1, in overtime.

“I think all season we were pretty solid so I think that gave us confidence,” Avs star Nathan MacKinnon said. “But that’s kind of our main focus, just playing really good defensive hockey. We felt like we were close. I thought (L.A. goalie Anton) Forsberg played really well … But, for us, that’s our main focus. That’s just what we’re preaching. On the bench, that’s what we’re preaching. I feel like that’s how you win — good, sound, defensive hockey.”

Checking first opponent off the list

By the end of the series, the Avs’ best players outplayed the Kings’ top guys. Wedgewood was just a little better than Forsberg at first, then definitively by the end. And the Avs’ depth, an obvious advantage entering the series, was better by orders of magnitude.

Colorado’s third line combined for seven even-strength points in the series. The Kings’ entire team combined for six, and none from the bottom-six forwards. There are plenty of other stats that would illustrate how a series was both close on the scoreboard but never in doubt for the Avs.

But there was also Lehkonen. Devon Toews scored Sunday afternoon to give Colorado a 4-1 lead with 13:59 to play. It was the club’s second goal in fewer than three minutes — a clear point where the Kings had finally relented and the Avs pounced.

Seconds later, after Toews’ goal, there was Lehkonen relentlessly forechecking a Kings defenseman in the Los Angeles zone. Even when this game and this series were in hand, Lehkonen couldn’t turn off the engine that defines how valuable he is at this time of year.

The Avs knew they had to check to win this series. Lehkonen didn’t stop, even after the job was done.

“I like the adaptability from our group,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “I like the fact that we’re committed to it. I think we’re really committed to it throughout the lineup. We might not score as much as if we want to just open it up and go, but to me it’s still winning hockey. I think our guys understand that. This series should help our guys understand even more so that we don’t need to score four or five a night in order to win hockey games. We can do it a different way as well.”

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