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The Avalanche have officially clinched the No. 1 seed in both the Central Division and Western Conference. Following Tuesday’s 3-1 redemption victory against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Arena, Colorado built enough of a cushion on the Dallas Stars to guarantee the No. 1 seed.
That means the Avs will play the No. 2 wildcard team in the opening round of the postseason and have home-ice advantage until at least the Stanley Cup Final. The Stars are locked into a first-round matchup with the Minnesota Wild.
Colorado improved to 51-16-10 with five games remaining in the regular season. The 112 points the Avalanche have is seven off their franchise record from the 2021-22 season.
Valeri Nichushkin, who returned from a one-game absence due to an upper-body injury, scored twice, and Martin Necas added the other goal. Scott Wedgewood got the nod in goal, improving to 29-6-6 on the season. Wedgewood continues to lead the NHL both in save percentage and goals against average.
The Avs got the scoring started late in the first period. With a new look second line of Brock Nelson, Ross Colton, and Nichushkin cycling the puck, defenseman Devon Toews fired it on goal from the blueline. Nichushkin redirected it past goalie Joel Hofer at 16:11. Before the intermission, Colorado doubled the lead thanks to a nice pass from Nathan MacKinnon to Necas with just 28 seconds remaining.
The Avs had a 17-2 advantage in shots on goal through 20 minutes, but a late penalty to Toews gave the Blues a power play that carried over into the second.
Rather than letting St. Louis get back into it, the Avalanche instead added to their lead. Nelson sent Nichushkin in all alone, and the power forward went between his legs to beat Hofer for his first shorthanded goal of the season. The goal came just 1:40 into the second.
Coming off a hat trick at Ball Arena, Robert Thomas scored late in the second to end Wedgewood’s shutout bid. But that was all the Blues could muster. Colorado outshot the opposition 37-19, with Wedgewood finishing with 18 saves.
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Good: Disaster Averted
Late in the third period, Sam Malinski slightly tripped up Philip Broberg, and the blueliner went barreling into Wedgewood. Colorado’s netminder fell backward and went hard into the goal post. He was in considerable amount of pain in the moments after the collision. The net remaining on its moorings didn’t help, as it made the impact far worse than it should’ve been.
Wedgewood said after the game that the collision into the post took the wind out of him.
Thankfully, disaster was averted. He shook it off and remained in the game.
Bad: Kadri Leaves With Upper-Body Injury
Now for the unfortunate news. The Avalanche didn’t escape the game without an injury. Nazem Kadri played just 6:09 before leaving with an upper-body injury. On his last shift, he blocked a puck with his hand and appeared to be in discomfort shortly after that.
Bednar said after the game that he’ll know more in the next day or two, and Kadri’s pain tolerance could help determine if he’ll be able to play.
The Avs were missing Nic Roy and Nichushkin in the first game against the Blues. With both of them returning on Tuesday, this was the first time Bednar had his full forward group available. It was the first look of the insane depth they have up front.
It’ll be short-lived if Kadri misses any time.
Kadri played in all 307 regular-season games in his three+ years with the Calgary Flames. He was on a loaded third line with Gabe Landeskog and Roy to start the night.
The post Postgame: Avalanche Defeat Blues, Clinch No. 1 Seed In Western Conference appeared first on Colorado Hockey Now.
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