Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced to help the Avalanche defeat the Calgary Flames 3-1 at Ball Arena on Tuesday to clinch the Presidents' Trophy. Gabriel Landeskog Martin Necas each scored a goal for Colorado, while Nathan MacKinnon set a new career high in goals and posted a pair of assists.
“We’re not going to celebrate too much," Landeskog said about clinching the Presidents' Trophy. "It’s obviously an accomplishment. We had a good regular season. You’re the top team after 82 games, but at the end of the day, going into the playoffs it doesn’t really mean much. Everybody’s going to start fresh, everybody’s starting 0-0, and get a chance to prove yourselves again. I think if anything. it fuels us knowing that we’ve won a lot of hockey games in a lot of different ways. I think that’s important to remember. You’re not winning the Presidents’ Trophy if you haven’t been finding ways to win hockey games. We’ll enjoy it tonight and move forward.”
With the win, the Avalanche improved to 52-16-10.
“Buy-in," Josh Manson said about what was working for the team defensively. "Buying into the reloads, staying above, and having enough D, and not making it easy. It’s fun to play against teams when we don’t get above the puck because as D, you can join on breakouts. When you stay committed to that, it’s a frustrating thing to play against and then you just stay patient.”
