LOS ANGELES – He shimmies. He shakes. The defending forward has no chance. Nobody can suck the life out of an opposing building like Cale Makar.

In the four games against the Los Angeles Kings, the Avalanche blueliner showed everyone why he is the best defenseman in the world. And it’s not just the highlight-reel goals.

Makar’s second-period goal was the eventual game winner, as the Avalanche took down the Kings by a score of 5-1 on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena and will move on to the second round, where they will play either the Minnesota Wild or Dallas Stars. At the time of Makar’s goal, the score was only 1-0 in favor of Colorado, with Nathan MacKinnon nabbing his first of the series at the end of the first. The Kings and their fans still had hope.

Until Makar took it from them.

Los Angeles’ Taylor Ward, making his first appearance of the series, found himself in a one-on-one matchup with Makar. Not ideal for any player, let alone a guy playing his first career playoff game. Makar head-faked one way and then went the other, leaving Ward in the dust. The 28-year-old forward grabbed hold of Makar, a move that would have sent him to the penalty box, but Cale cut out the middleman.

After beating Anton Forsberg high on the blocker side in Game 3, Makar pulled his hands in and sent the puck below Forsberg’s glove, making it 2-0. The Kings would score not too long after, but it never felt like they were going to come back.

Makar’s goal was game, set and match for not just the game, but this series.

“Once he kind of creates a couple of feet, you’re not catching him,” Scott Wedgewood said of Makar after the game. “It’s a hell of a play.”

When the Avalanche were eliminated by the Dallas Stars in seven games last spring, Makar took some heat, whether warranted or unwarranted. His only goal in that series came in an empty net. The other 25 shots he took were stopped by Jake Oettinger. A goal here or there, particularly one from one of your most important players, could have been the difference in that series, but it never came.

If there were questions as to whether there was a mental block in Makar’s head coming into this series, there aren’t anymore.

“You have to be mentally tough because you click on social media and people are saying, ‘Cale and Nate haven’t done anything in this series,’ which couldn’t be further from the truth,” Bednar said after the game.

His dynamic goals in Games 3 and 4 were huge in the Avalanche sweeping the Kings, but it was his all-around play that cannot go unnoticed.

With Makar on the ice, the Avalanche had an expected goals-for percentage of 57.54% in this series, the highest among all the regular defensemen on Colorado. That Avalanche blueline was dynamite against the Kings, but Makar led the way.

In Game 1, he blocked a shot from DU alumnus Jared Wright and poked it around him in one motion, spinning away and starting a breakout. As Wright tried to spin around to recover, he lost an edge, sliding to the ice and taking out his linemate, Joel Armia, in the process. Makar wasn’t just punking forwards in the offensive zone. He was doing it at the other end of the ice as well.

So, coach Bednar, was that an “I’m the best defenseman in the world” series from Cale Makar?

“Yeah,” Bednar said after Game 4. “It’s a buy-in, same as (MacKinnon). The focus isn’t just on ‘I got to get points so people think I’m good.’ I don’t think that’s what our guys are thinking about anymore. It’s about winning and what can I do to help our team win?”

Makar’s brilliance, along with the committed effort from the other 20 players on the Avalanche that appeared in this series, is going to give the Avalanche a nice little break as they watch the Wild and Stars beat each other up.

This is why the top seed in the conference was a goal of theirs from day one of training camp, so they’ve earned the break.

Avalanche 5, Kings 1

What happened: The Avalanche finally got the Kings to break out of their shell, and it went how you’d expect.

What went right: Artturi Lehkonen and Gabriel Landeskog swapped lines in the first period and it was mutually beneficial for both trios. The third line, consisting of Lehkonen, Nazem Kadri and Nic Roy, was responsible for two of the Avalanche goals, while the top line chipped in with the final two. Lehkonen was a monster all night long, outworking Panarin in the first period and forechecking like an animal late in the third when the Avalanche were already up by three.

What went wrong: Josh Manson did not play with an upper-body injury, one that Bednar said will leave Manson “sore for a while.” This break could be good for Manson in terms of his availability for the second round, as someone from the Avalanche could be overheard saying that Josh needed it after the win.

Avalanche goal scorers: MacKinnon (1,2), Makar (2), Roy (2), Toews (1)

Kings goal scorer: Edmundson (1)

Between the pipes: For the fourth straight game, Scott Wedgewood finished with 24 saves, a bizarre stat. He was fantastic again for the Avalanche.

What’s next: Now they wait. Colorado’s next series won’t start until Saturday, at the earliest. The Wild and Stars are tied at two in their series.