Avalanche Can Clinch Top Playoff Spot

The Colorado Avalanche has already secured its spot in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but it has a chance to clinch the West Division title and its third-ever Presidents' Trophy with a win and a little help.
Colorado hosts the Los Angeles Kings tonight at Ball Arena in the first half of a back-to-back set that closes out the regular season, trailing the Vegas Golden Knights by two points in the West standings. The Avs (37-13-4, 78 points) however have a game in hand and own the first tiebreaker (regulation wins), while the Golden Knights (39-14-2, 80 points) play their season finale tonight at the San Jose Sharks.

"It's exciting. The conversation in the room and talk in the room is this is where everyone's worked towards to get here this year," said rookie Alex Newhook, who has only skated in four NHL games but is aware of the team's goal to be a top seed for the playoffs. "In my short time here, it's still exciting to have this opportunity in front of us and be a part of something that could be pretty special here in these next two days and the next few months to come."
The Avalanche can clinch the Presidents' Trophy--given to the best NHL team during the regular season--and the No. 1 seed with a win in any fashion against the Kings and a regulation loss by the Knights against the Sharks. Vegas can take those spots if it earns more points against San Jose than Colorado does versus Los Angeles.
Both games in Denver and in San Jose are happening simultaneously as the puck drops are set for 7 p.m. MT at Ball Arena and 6 p.m. PT at SAP Center, meaning Colorado and Vegas could know their postseason fates by the final horn.
"Especially this year, I think it might make it more special because of the grind of the season and the caliber of teams that we've been playing constantly," said veteran Nazem Kadri of the possibility of earning the No. 1 seed in the West and in the entire NHL. "For us, we talked about this early on in the season, and it's nice that it could possibly come to fruition."
If both the Avs and Knights win tonight, Colorado will get a second chance to clinch those banners with a win in the regular-season finale on Thursday versus Los Angeles.
The Avalanche has won three games in a row and is coming off a 2-1 victory in Vegas on Monday. It was a contest where Colorado didn't necessarily have its best game, but the squad received solid goaltending from Philipp Grubauer in a 36-save effort and timely goals from Andre Burakovsky and J.T. Compher to rally from a 1-0 deficit in the first period.
"At the end of the day good teams find ways to win, and that is exactly what happened," Kadri said. "Obviously we understand we didn't play our best, but at the end of the road trip we could have played better, definitely. But I think we just got to get back to basics. We've been having success all year, so we understand how we got to play and understand our game plan. We'll look for a better effort tonight."
The Avs are no strangers to facing the Kings as the clubs met on Friday and Saturday at Staples Center, and Colorado won by 3-2 scores each night. The Avalanche is 5-1-0 against the Kings this season and have won four in a row in the 2020-21 series.
In addition to the Avalanche and Golden Knights, the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues are the other two opponents that will participate in the postseason from the West Division. The Blues (59 points) are locked in as the No. 4 seed, while the Wild (75 points) are three points behind Colorado and still has a chance to earn the second seed with two games remaining as well.
The Avs only need one point in their next two games to secure at least home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

LINEUP NOTES

Defenseman Samuel Girard, who is celebrating his 23rd birthday today, will be back in the lineup for the Avalanche after missing the past six outings with a lower-body injury suffered on April 30 against San Jose.
Jacob MacDonald will be the odd-blueliner out for the club this evening.
Nathan MacKinnon won't be in the Avs' lineup as head coach Jared Bednar said the forward got "dinged up" a bit in the last contest in Vegas, which was unrelated to his previous lower-body injury. Bednar did note that MacKinnon is day-to-day and should be ready to go when the playoffs begin.
Philipp Grubauer was the first goaltender off the ice at morning skate and is expected to get the start.
View: Avalanche Projected Lineup vs. Kings

NOTEWORTHY

The Avs have won three straight games by one goal and improved to 17-3-4 (.708) in one-goal contests this season, second best in the NHL.
Defenseman Cale Makar will be playing in his 100th career regular-season game.
Regardless of the outcome in the two games against Los Angles (5-1-0 so far), Colorado will have won the season series against every West Division foe this year, including picking up six wins versus Anaheim, Arizona and San Jose.
This is the Avs' 10th and final back-to-back series of the season, with the club going 8-1-0 in the first game and 6-0-3 in the second of such sets. Colorado has swept its last four back-to-backs, which is a franchise record.
The Avalanche is 20-4-2 at home (.808) this season and is on a 15-game point streak (14-0-1) at Ball Arena, the second longest in franchise history.

ONE TIMERS

Head Coach Jared Bednar on Nathan MacKinnon's status: "He's day-to-day. He got dinged up in the Vegas game. Unrelated to the injury that he had in his previous two games, so at this point we're just trying to get him ready for the playoffs. He's unable to play tonight, and hopefully he's good and healthy and ready to go for Game 1 of the playoffs."
Alex Newhook on his first four NHL games: "I think it's been a steady incline. You know, the first game definitely a feeling-out process a little bit, but it's been great. I think it's been an easy transition and the guys have helped me with that. I've been lucky to play with some really good players, you know, make it easy to play, always in the right spot and when guys are doing that it's easy for me. I think it's been feeling better every game, I've been feeling better every game, so hopefully keep that going in the next two."
Nazem Kadri on goaltender Philipp Grubauer: "He's proved that he can get the job done, and we all want to battle in front of him as hard as we can because we understand he is going to do everything he can to keep the puck out of the back of the net. That's going to be one of our ingredients to have success in the postseason, is Grubi playing well and us playing well in front of him."