Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn ImagesIsaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
The Presidents’ Trophy belongs to the Avalanche.
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Following Thursday’s 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames, the Avalanche ensured that home-ice advantage throughout the entire postseason, regardless of who they play, belongs to them. Colorado improved to 52-16-10, securing the regular-season award with four games remaining before the playoffs.
“You want home ice. Like, whether you’re doing well on the road or not, you’re gonna have to do well home and away if you want to win the Cup. That’s just the way it goes,” defenseman Josh Manson said.
Gabe Landeskog scored the opening goal for the Avalanche, while Martin Necas and Nathan MacKinnon each had a goal and two assists. In goal, Mackenzie Blackwood made 28 saves to record his 22nd triumph. Colorado outshot Calgary 41-29, with Dustin Wolf stopping 38 at the other end.
Two of the remaining games will be played at Ball Arena, with another two on the road — including one in Calgary. The Avs play the very last game on the NHL calendar on April 16 when they host the Seattle Kraken with a scheduled 8:30 p.m. MT start. The postseason begins two days later.
Bednar said he hasn’t yet decided on his plan for resting guys moving forward. That will be determined in the coming days.
“We’ve got some guys that have been out of the lineup that I think need to continue to play, regardless of their stature on our team and how many minutes they played,” Bednar said. “I think we got some guys that probably could use a break. We got some guys chasing milestones. So we’ll see what all the guys say, and we’ll take the information and then come up with a plan.”
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Landeskog got the scoring started late in the first period. The Avs got the games first power play when John Beecher was called for hooking. On the ensuing faceoff, it took just six seconds for MacKinnon to find Landeskog in close for his 13th of the season at 18:44.
Landeskog was re-added to the top power play unit because of an upper-body injury that kept Nazem Kadri out of the lineup.
The Avs finished the game 1-for-3 on the power play and killed off both chances the Flames got.
It took nearly an entire period to double the lead. With 4:59 remaining in the second, Necas put it top shelf over Wolf for his 38th of the season. Necas, who also recorded an assist on the Landeskog tally, is just three points away from 100.
The Flames pulled their goalie with more than three minutes remaining. They got a goal from Tyson Gross to end Blackwood’s shutout bid with 2:52 remaining. With just under 90 seconds left, Gross thought he had another one, but a successful offside challenge from Bednar took that one off the board.
MacKinnon added an empty netter to get his career-high 52nd of the season to secure the win.
Good: Presidents’ Trophy With Time To Spare
This was the goal from before the season began. And given how the Avalanche’s regular season was always set up, it’s nice, for them, to have it locked up with time to spare.
I’d be curious to see how Bednar navigates these last four games. I’d imagine some guys will want to sit. But for how long? And when? The road trip between the two home games might make this interesting. For example, if you’re one of the veterans, would you prefer to stay back and skip the quick Alberta road trip?
Or do you prefer to play the back-to-back and then only sit for the finale on April 16?
Bad: The Ending Was Too Close For Comfort
It’s inevitable that, even if the Avalanche lost tonight, they’d still likely lock up the Presidents’ Trophy at some point. But by securing it now, they have the ability to slightly take the foot off the pedal, and clear their minds of all the goals they wanted to accomplish in the regular season.
That ending was too close for comfort. Letting the Flames get one, and then basically another that was called back, is a little bit too much of a let off from the team.
Bednar was upset when the Avs lost to Vancouver last week for this very reason. The sooner they get the Presidents’ Trophy, the sooner they can rest players. They almost let this one get to overtime despite the late lead. It’s a good thing the video coach had his eye on that entry.
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