Avalanche win Presidents' Trophy with victory against Flames

DENVER -- Nathan MacKinnon scored his 52nd goal of the season and had two assists, and the Colorado Avalanche clinched the Presidents’ Trophy with a 3-1 win against the Calgary Flames at Ball Arena on Thursday.

“Any (time) you set out to do something, it's nice to find a way to accomplish it, for sure. But we only know that it's a small step in the right direction,” Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “We know it's a little step closer to the fun beginning here in the playoffs, and we know the road's going to be tough. It's not going to be easy. It's going to get harder and harder as we get closer, but I feel like our group's ready.

“I feel like we feel good. We've been waiting for the playoffs to start now for a while, and we still have a handful of games to go, obviously, so still time to tighten up our game.”

Martin Necas had a goal and had two assists, and Landeskog also scored for the Avalanche (52-16-10), who secured the best regular-season record in the NHL for the fourth time in franchise history. Mackenzie Blackwood made 28 saves.

Colorado, which clinched the top seed in the Western Conference and won the Central Division title with a 3-1 win against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday, will be the top seed in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“I think guys should be really happy that we've accomplished those three goals, first in the division, the conference, and the League. It's where it always starts,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “You’ve got to play a long regular season before you ever even get to the playoffs, and then now it's time to like refocus, get ready for playoffs, do whatever we need to do to be as good as we can possibly be for the drop of the puck come playoff time.

“Then you basically wash everything that you've done, except for what you've learned as a team about yourselves, and start fresh, because it's a completely different ball game.”

Tyson Gross scored his first NHL goal, and Dustin Wolf made 38 saves for the Flames (32-37-9), who were eliminated from playoff contention for the fourth consecutive season after a 4-3 overtime loss at the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.

“I thought the game was better for us in here this this go-around,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. “I thought (in the) first period, we did some good things early on. We were a little bit quicker than we were last time we played in here (a 9-2 loss on March 30). Got away from it a little bit in the second period, but I thought the guys stayed with it and they continued to compete until the end.”

Landeskog scored a power-play goal to make it 1-0 Colorado at 18:44 of the first period. He one-timed MacKinnon’s cross-crease pass past the left leg of Wolf from the right post.

Necas extended it to 2-0 at 15:01 of the second period after he cut across the top of the crease, waited out a sprawling Wolf, and sent a wrist shot short side past the glove. Necas finished a give-and-go with MacKinnon in the left corner, who fed him as he cut through the left circle.

“You don't really care about standings. You just play on a daily basis, and if you keep racking (up) those wins, it's going to happen,” said Necas. “It’s been a great regular season. We’ve got four more games now, and (then we'll) just get ready for playoffs.”

Gross cut it to 2-1 at 17:08 of the third period with the goalie pulled for the extra attacker when he backhanded home the rebound of Matvei Gridin’s initial shot from the top of the crease. Gridin’s shot hit Blackwood up high and came across to Gross at the left side of the crease for the play past the right leg.

“Obviously, it's something you dream of your entire life, so to be able to get it is special,” Gross said. “It’s unfortunate the second one didn't go in to tie the game up, but just hopefully (there will be) more opportunities in the future.”

Gross appeared to tie it 2-2 at 18:31 when he located another rebound of Gridin’s shot off the right post and put it over the leg of Blackwood. Colorado challenged the play for offside, and the goal was overturned after video review.

“We've had a lot of those this year where we were close, but at the end of the day, it's offside,” said Huska.

MacKinnon scored into the empty net at 19:05 for the 3-1 final, setting a career high with his NHL-leading 52nd goal.

“I was passing to him,” Necas said of opting not to shoot into the empty net. “It’s a career high in goals. So it's pretty nice, and he would pass to me every time, if he sees me there, as well.”

Said Bednar: “It's great. I wish every one of our guys would hit a new career milestone every year. It'd be great. It's not easy to do. Somehow Nate keeps finding a way to do it, though, and I don't know what I can say about him. But he's been fantastic all year. I'm glad he did it. I'm glad he's like winning that race and that he's hitting those types of milestones.”

NOTES: MacKinnon became the first player in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history to record 20 three-point games in a season. … Colorado’s four Presidents’ Trophy wins (also 2020-21, 2000-01, and 1996-97) are tied with the Bruins and Rangers for the second among all teams behind the Red Wings (six). … Bednar became the eighth coach in NHL history to win the Presidents’ Trophy at least twice with the same team. … Brent Burns (34 points; 12 goals, 22 assists) tied Nicklas Lidstrom (34 points in 2011-12) for the second-most points in a season by a defenseman age 40 or older in NHL history. Lidstrom is first with 62 points in 2010-11.