Nearly two weeks after clinching the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed, the Avalanche concluded their regular season on Friday night and can now solely focus on the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Avs rested six regulars against the Minnesota Wild and lost 4-1 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. The Wild jumped to a 3-0 lead and went on to clinch home-ice advantage against the St. Louis Blues in a first-round series.
Colorado’s first-round opponent, the West’s No. 8 seed, is the Nashville Predators, who blew a 4-0 lead at the Arizona Coyotes and lost 5-4 at Gila River Arena.
Game 1 of the Avs’ first-round series is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Ball Arena.
Colorado (56-19-7) climbed to a club-record 119 points with Thursday’s 5-4 shootout loss to the visiting Predators. The previous record was 118 points by the 2000-01 Avs who went on to win the Stanley Cup.
The Avs on Friday played without top-line forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Valeri Nichushkin and top-pair defensemen Cale Makar and Devon Toews. They also rested defenseman Bo Byram and goalie Darcy Kuemper. Forward Gabe Landeskog (knee) and defenseman Ryan Murray (arm) continue to recover from injuries.
“It was a no-brainer for me,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said of resting some of his top players. “Back-to-back, late-night arrival getting in here (early Friday morning) and then we’ll have another late night coming home tonight. In the standings, it didn’t mean anything for us, so it was good to get a bunch of our guys in who have been sitting out lately and give them some opportunity against a tough opponent.”
Colorado’s roster grew to 28 players when defenseman Jacob MacDonald and goalie Justus Annunen were recalled for the AHL’s Eagles late Thursday night. Both were in the lineup against the Wild, who played nearly all of their regulars. Annunen backed up starter Pavel Francouz.
“It was a long season, a lot of games. We collected a lot of wins on the way and that’s really positive,” Francouz said. “We’re only looking forward to the most fun part of the year. So we’re really happy that it’s going to start soon and we’re really looking forward to that.”
Minnesota led 2-0 after the first period and took a 3-0 lead early in the second. Forwards Jordan Greenway scored 58 seconds into the game and former Avs forward Tyson Jost doubled the lead at 4:12. Less than two minutes after Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov extended his team lead in goals to 47, Avs center Nazem Kadri took a circle-to-circle pass from Mikko Rantanen and beat goalie Marc-Andre Fleury for his 28th tally.
Greenway added an empty-net goal with 32 seconds remaining in the game.
Footnotes. The Avalanche will have Saturday off. … Kadri and defenseman Erik Johnson donned an A on their chest to replace MacKinnon and Makar as assistant captains.
Avalanche first-round schedule vs. Nashville (MT):
Game 1 Tuesday, May 3 at Ball Arena, 7:30 p.m
Game 2 Thursday, May 5 at Ball Arena, 7:30 p.m
Game 3 Saturday, May 7 at Nashville, 2:30 p.m.
Game 4 Monday, May 9 at Nashville, 7:30 p.m
*Game 5 Wednesday, May 11 at Ball Arena, TBD
*Game 6 Friday, May 13 at Nashville, TBD
*Game 7 Sunday, May 15 at Ball Arena, TBD
*If necessary
