For a third consecutive game against the NHL’s best team in the regular season, the Kings felt good Thursday night about how they played. For the third consecutive game, the Colorado Avalanche defeated them.

The Avs have not blown the doors off this team like many pundits predicted, given the chasm between the two clubs in the final NHL standings. They have beaten the Kings at their own game, combating a physical, defense-first brand of hockey with a better version of it.

“We keep saying we’re right there, but I think each guy, including myself, we have to give a little bit more,” Kings center Quentin Byfield said after the Avs won 4-2 in Game 3. “We’re doing the right things, but we just have to dig in a little more.”

Colorado has allowed four goals in three games. Two of them have been at 4-on-6 because the Kings pulled their goalie late in the game while on the power play.

Scott Wedgewood was one of the NHL’s great stories in the regular season, and he’s kept it rolling in his first three career Stanley Cup Playoffs starts.

“I don’t think we’re creating enough Grade-A chances on Wedgewood,” Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. “He has played well, but statistically, they’re one of the best teams in the neutral zone. For us to beat them, we have to wear them down in the D zone, make them tired, and score goals that way. We haven’t done that enough.”

Doughty is right. The Avs have created more than 60% of the high-danger scoring chances in this season, according to Natural Stat Trick at 5-on-5. That’s the second-most in this postseason so far, behind only Montreal.

Despite Los Angeles’ best efforts to make this a low-event series, Colorado leads the playoffs in both total high-danger scoring chances (34) and chances per 60 minutes (14.09). The Avs are still getting a lot of the chances they want.

The Kings are not. So the search for solutions continues.

“Get some O-zone shifts, get the next line out there still in the O-zone,” Doughty said. “That¶¶Òõap what they do to us. They come at us with flurries of three great shifts in a row and then the game goes back to neutral and then they do it again. We need to get more of those flurries on them.”

Byfield, who has been the Kings’ most dangerous player when they’re not on the power play, had a similar message.

“It¶¶Òõap just more plays. We keep stressing that,” Byfield said. “Playoff hockey obviously it¶¶Òõap physical, you’re chipping a lot of pucks out, but we can be connected a little bit more, breaking it out, coming out as a unit and being a little bit more connected.”

Kings coach D.J. Smith answered a question after Game 3 about his team’s lack of 5-on-5 offense. They have scored once at even strength in three games. He felt the analytics would say the offense generated on Thursday would be a big number.

It was not. The Kings generated 1.55 expected goals at 5-on-5, per Natural Stat Trick. Los Angeles’ total for the game in all situations was 2.59, which is the ninth-lowest by any team in the playoffs so far. It was an improvement from Game 2, when the Kings accumulated the third-lowest (2.02), even with the contest needing overtime.

So the Avs have pulled a Kings on the Kings, and now the Kings want to be more like the Avs to beat the Avs.

“We gave up the lowest goals against of any team,” Wedgewood said. “We’re detailed. We take pride in our D zone. Guys are blocking shots, doing what they need to do. And I think growing that throughout the season is going to pay off in the playoffs like it is right now.”

Artturi Lehkonen had a shorthanded goal and set up another, while Scott Wedgewood made 24 saves as the Colorado Avalanche clawed its way to another victory, 4-2, Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena. The Avs now lead the best-of-7 series 3-0, and will go for a sweep here Sunday afternoon in Game 4.

Lehkonen led a 2-on-1 while shorthanded and tried to set up Logan O’Connor with a pass. The puck went off Adrian Kempe’s skate and between goalie Anton Forsberg’s legs for what proved to be the game-winning at 7:39 of the final period.

“I was for sure trying to pass to OC on the back side there,” Lehkonen said. “Luckily it went in. It was for sure a little bit of a different kind of goal, but I’ll take it.”

The Kings were desperate in this contest and had the more dangerous offensive chances early on. Wedgewood, who led the NHL in save percentage (.921) and goals against average (2.02) during the regular season, continued his incredible run with another strong effort.

The high-flying version of the Avs has yet to arrive in this series, but the defensively-sound edition backed by strong goaltending continues to be enough against an inferior Kings club.

Lehkonen’s goal became the game winner after Los Angeles cut Colorado’s lead to 3-2 with 4:03 remaining. Adrian Kempe re-directed a shot-pass from Artemi Panarin with Jack Drury in the penalty box for the Kings’ third power-play goal in three games.

Brock Nelson ended any doubt, shooting the puck into the empty net with 2:18 remaining. Anze Kopitar, who has announced he will retire when this season ends, smashed his stick off the boards in frustration. He knows his last NHL game could be Sunday.

Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas and Cale Makar — the three highest scorers on the highest-scoring team in the NHL this season — have one point each in this series. It has not mattered.

“That¶¶Òõap how you’re going to win this time of year,” Avs captain Gabe Landeskog said. “We’re doing it as a group. Those guys are checking like dogs and working really hard, both ends of the rink. That¶¶Òõap the way it¶¶Òõap going to have to be for us to win. There’s going to be plenty of opportunities, plays that are going to have to be made, and those guys will make them.

“You see some of that tonight. Cale doesn’t score if Nate and Lehky aren’t in front of the net. Those are plays that aren’t going to show up on the score sheet but are super important this time of year.”

Cale Makar put the Avs back in front at 12:12 of the second period. Lehkonen intercepted a pass by Drew Doughty behind the L.A. net to start the play. Makar took a pass from partner Devon Toews at the left point, then danced across the top of the zone before slinging a shot through traffic for his first goal of the postseason.

Landeskog scored on the one-year anniversary of his return from a three-year absence to give the Avalanche an early lead. Nicolas Roy sent the puck towards the top of the zone and Landeskog was able to stretch and corral it near the blue line.

The Avs captain threw it back towards the Kings net. It went wide, but bounced off the end boards and hit Anton Forsberg’s skate before it crossed the goal line at 5:29 of the first. It was Landeskog’s second goal of the series, and second in as many games after he scored late in Game 2 to force overtime.

Trevor Moore scored L.A.’s first even-strength goal of the series to even the score at 5:55 of the second. It was a chaotic shift. Quentin Byfield had a chance as he drove the net a few seconds earlier, but he was the guy shoveling the puck there. Moore went to the net and the puck went off his body and in.

Josh Manson left the game with an injury earlier in the second period after Joel Edmondson checked him awkwardly into the Kings bench. He returned for one shift — he was tangled up with Moore at the net front and took a high-sticking penalty on the play. Manson did not return to the game after serving the penalty. A team spokesman said he was out with an upper-body injury.

“Unbelievable,” Wedgewood said of the defense corps playing a man down. “We’ve got a good structured game plan back there. They were smart with it. A couple chances (the Kings) did get, they only got one. I didn’t feel like they were whacking away on three or four chances or getting things back to the seam after a rebound.

“It sucks going down a guy, especially when they push in third period, things like that. But I couldn’t be prouder.”

“I made a couple of nice plays and got a couple of shots on that (Kings crease) and obviously was lucky to get one,” Avalanche forward Nicolas Roy reflected when asked about his scrappy overtime goal, the one sending Colorado into Los Angeles on Thursday night with a 2-0 series lead.

“But again, I like to be in this area (of the crease), and a lot of those goals are scored there. So I try to be there as much as I can.”

The Nic of Time came 7:44 into overtime late Tuesday, not long after the referees had gifted the K.O. Kings a 1-0 cushion — forcing Marty Necas to go reverse 5-hole with Gabe Landeskog and claw the Avs back.

The 6-foot-4 Roy, acquired from Toronto for a first-round pick at the trade deadline this past March, is built like the girder of an old-time baseball park. He’s strong, lean, sturdy, and hard as all heck to see around during parts of the action.

In the Colorado spirit, once Big Nic started camping in Los Angeles goalie Anton Forsberg’s crease, it was only a matter of time before somebody started a fire. While Roy and Kings defender Brandt Clarke swapped shoves in front of the L.A. net, the Avs’ Josh Manson collected a feed from Nazem Kadri, cocked his stick back, and fired from the blue line.

With that, Brandt blocked Manson’s wrister, only to lose the rubber as it trickled under him. An alert Roy leaned in and shoveled the loose puck past Forsberg to end one of the weirdest playoff nights in Ball Arena history.

“(Roy has) been awesome,” Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon said later. “I mean, he’s a great player. He’s a really smart player, awesome guy. (Joel Kiviranta) almost scored right before him, and then (Roy) found a way to get it done.”

Avs 2, Kidney Punch Kings 1. They found a way. They found a Roy, in spite of it all. Hockey justice is supposed to be blind in April. But not nearly as blind as the zebras that worked Avs-Kings Game 2.

Artemi Panarin lofted the puck over Colorado net-minder Scott Wedgewood on the power play with 6:56 left in the third period to break the deadlock, giving the underdogs a 1-0 lead. But ain’t it funny how officials didn’t notice the cross-check in front of the Avs goal, as Los Angeles’ Scott Laughton shoved Devon Toews halfway to Littleton?

Cale Makar? Elbow to the chin.

Marty Necas? Elbow to the nose.

That second one, a cheap shot by the Kings’ Mikey Anderson, is a felony in 45 states. On Tuesday, it was two minutes for roughing.

From four blind mice in stripes to in-game stadium repair, it turned into one long, strange trip of an evening. The second period had a little bit of everything. Everything, that is, except a goal.

Some goaltenders raise the roof. Wedgewood rattled the windows — helping to break the glass that separates Avs fans from the Kings’ bench.

Not directly, mind you. See, roughly 3:12 into the second stanza, Wedgie stoned a penalty shot awarded to the Kings’ Quinton Byfield, the result of a particularly curious call on Cale Makar. The Avs goalie dove hard to his left, extending a glove to stop the Los Angeles forward’s backhanded try.

With that, the superb gave way to the surreal. Ball went justifiably bonkers over Wedgewood’s stop. So bonkers, in fact, that the glass partition behind the L.A. bench completely shattered due to repeated banging by Avs faithful. The collision sent a shower of shards into the back and shoulder of unsuspecting Kings coach D.J. Smith and his staff.

And cue the oddest of odd playoff delays. The away bench had to be cleared as cleaning and maintenance crews rushed in to sweep up debris. New glass was installed after a 17-minute delay, during which both teams remained on the ice.

In hindsight, the stoppage might have slowed down a chance for the Avs to immediately capitalize on the juice generated from Wedgewood’s penalty save.

“That’s a different one,” said Avs coach Jared Bednar, who took a stray puck to the face against Vegas earlier this month. “I mean, stuff happens.”

The rough stuff happened early and often. Manson separated Laughton from his spine with 10:28 to go in the first. After Wedgewood smothered a Trevor Moore wrister on a Kings 2-on-1, a full-scale donnybrook exploded near the Colorado net.

Once order was restored, the assailants skated to the Los Angeles end of the ice. But not all — Necas got sandwiched between the Kings’ Mathieu Joseph and Anderson at center ice, a collision punctuated by Anderson reaching up to elbow the Avs winger right between the nostrils.

Meanwhile, Artturi Lehkonen boarded a dude behind the Los Angeles net with the subtlety of an Estes Park elk. Somebody grabbed Sam Malinsky, and we had another scrap, only on the other end, and with everybody on the dance floor.

When the dust settled for a second time, Brett Kulak got four minutes — two for roughing, another two for cross-checking — in the box, and Anderson only had to serve two in his box on a roughing charge.

Nevertheless, the chippy persisted. The Kings’ 6-foot-5 forward Jeff Malott bopped the 6-foot Makar in the face with 4:18 left in the opening period as they hovered above Wedgewood’s crease just before a stoppage in play.

Necas got a little of his back in the Avs’ last possession of the opening 20 minutes, shoving Anderson into the boards behind the Kings’ net a few seconds ahead of the stanza-ending horn. Why should Vegas and Utah have all the fun?

“I guess I’d better keep my head up, huh?” . “No bicycles on the highway.”

The goalie duel continued, even as the Avs generated a 3-on-1 with 4:26 left in the second stanza, a rush that had the natives rising to their collective feet again.

Only Necas dished to Landeskog rather than ripping one while he had a good look. That little hesitation gave Forsberg enough time to snuff out the danger.

Shoot, Marty!

Ah, shoot, Marty.

Playoff Necas rebounded. With 3:35 left in regulation and the Avalanche down, 1-0, Marty camped out behind Forsberg’s left shoulder, waited for help, and found an open Landy cutting into the crease. No. 88 slipped a perfect diagonal pass between Forsberg’s leg pads and onto the stick of the Captain, who didn’t miss — lighting the lamp and sending another grindy contest into overtime.

In case of awful officiating, just break glass. And call on Roy to clean up the NHL’s mess.

“I’m joining a group of guys (in Colorado) that have built something really good here,” Saint Nic said of Avs life. “(I’m) just trying to chip in as much as I can, help these guys out in any way I can.”

No bicycles on this highway, kids. Here today. Goon tomorrow.

Avalanche vs. Kings matchups: Who has the edge?

Kings: 35-27-20, 90 points; 2.68 goals per game (29th), 2.90 goals against per game (8th)

Avalanche: 55-16-11, 121 points; 3.63 goals per game (1st), 2.40 goals against per game (1st)

Offense

The Avs just missed being the only NHL club to score 300 goals this year, but their 298 was still seven more than Carolina in second and 78 more than the Kings. Colorado hasn’t had its full allotment of forwards together very often since the additions of Nazem Kadri and Nicolas Roy before the trade deadline, but everyone is expected to be ready for Game 1.

It’s the best forward group in the league if everyone is healthy. Nathan MacKinnon led the league in goals and should be a Hart Trophy finalist for the third straight year. Martin Necas collected 100 points for the first time in his career. Brock Nelson fired home 33 goals and formed a dominant two-way tandem with Valeri Nichushkin.

Kadri will likely center the third line and Jack Drury the fourth, but Ross Colton could end up on any of the bottom three lines. Parker Kelly’s 21 goals would be tied for third on the Kings. He could play on the fourth line for the Avs.

The Kings did make a big splash for Artemi Panarin and then added Scott Laughton just before the deadline. Panarin and Adrian Kempe with Azne Kopitar between them is a very nice top line.

Byfield has been hot lately and is a strong No. 2 center. Colorado’s depth should be a massive advantage. Kevin Fiala and Andrei Kuzmenko would make this group look a lot more formidable, but both are injured any may not play in this series.

Advantage: Avalanche

Defense

Cale Makar missed some games with a minor injury, then returned and looked quite ready for the postseason. Will coach Jared Bednar start him with Devon Toews, or will he split them up? Brett Kulak has faced the Kings each of the past four postseasons with Edmonton. He could play with Makar and allow Toews to continue to skate with Sam Malinski, one of the breakout performers of the season.

Josh Manson missed the end of the regular season, but is expected to be ready for Sunday, and to be paired again with Brent Burns. The Avs led the NHL in offense from defensemen for the sixth consecutive season.

Drew Doughty and Mikey Anderson lead the Los Angeles blue line. Doughty is 36 and played the fewest minutes per game of his career. Brandt Clarke is an offensive specialist who the Avs are going to try to pin at his end of the ice. The Kings added both Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci this offseason to play in games like this. Colorado’s top forwards will be delighted to see them on the ice.

Advantage: Avalanche

Special teams

The power play has been Colorado’s weak link all season, but it’s been less of one since the Olympic break. The Avs finished 27th with the man advantage … but the Kings finished 28th. And Colorado was 16th at 21.4% with the extra man after the break.

Meanwhile, the Avs’ penalty kill has been consistently elite all season. Colorado finished first in the league on the PK. Los Angeles has the worst penalty kill in the playoffs — 30th overall this season, and last since the Olympic break at 67.9%. The Kings can be dangerous shorthanded, and that’s been an issue for the Avs at times this season.

Advantage: Avalanche

Goaltending

The Avs won the William Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals this season. Scott Wedgewood led the NHL in goals against average (2.02) and save percentage (.921). Mackenzie Blackwood started the year 13-1-1, but has scuffled at times in the second half of the season. Both just missed out on representing Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper was on that Canada team after a strong start to the season. He may not be in net Sunday against his former team, though. Anton Forsberg has taken control of the position, winning five straight starts down the stretch to help L.A. qualify for the playoffs before dropping the finale to Calgary. Forsberg has a .914 save percentage since the Olympic break, while Kuemper has an .867.

We could see all four goalies in this series.

Advantage: Avalanche

Avalanche vs. Kings: 5 storylines to watch

1. Who is in net? The biggest unknown for the Avs is how the goalie situation is going to work. Scott Wedgewood has been the better goalie for a long stretch now, but Mackenzie Blackwood is still the long-term No. 1 goalie for this organization. Jared Bednar has said he will continue to play both guys.

2. Befuddle Byfield? The Kings top line is very good. Quinton Byfield has 11 goals in the past 15 games and centers the club’s go-to shutdown line. This could be a coming out party for him nationally if he comports himself well against MacKinnon and Co. If the Avs can keep him in check and make the Kings a one-line team, that should make this a short series.

3. Corral Clarke? 23-year-old Brandt Clarke is the type of offensive defenseman who can change games. The Kings also try to shelter him with a lot of offensive zone starts. Similar to Byfield, containing Clarke is a path to shutting down the Kings’ offense.

4. Power up? The Kings have some of the worst special teams in the league, in both phases. They’ve also had issues on specials teams during the playoffs the past few years. Colorado’s power play had a great March, but PP1 was in the garage for most of April because of injuries to Cale Makar and Nazem Kadri. This could, even should, be a chance for the Avs to find some success on the power play. And going close to perfect on the PK in the series isn’t out of the question.

5. One trip? These Kings have had a weird year. The coach got fired. They won 35 games. Everyone has counted them out. But … they’ve been better with Artemi Panarin and since Anton Forsberg got hot. They will play all of the motivational cards — nobody believes in us, we have nothing to lose, let’s win one series for Azne Kopitar before he retires. The Avs need to take control of this series early, not let up and make one trip to sunny Southern California, not two.

Avalanche vs. Kings series predictions

Corey Masisak, beat writer:  Once upon a time at another publication, I picked the Kings to win the Stanley Cup in five games. My boss asked how I could pick them in such a short series and my response was “because I can’t pick them in three.” This is that type of series, as long as the Avalanche take care of business early and don’t let the Kings start to believe. The Kings will try to slow game down, drag the Avs down into the mud and make it as coin-flip in nature as possible. They’re going to hope Anton Forsberg stays hot. They have a few standout players, but the Avs are much deeper. It would take a lot of things going wrong for this to be a long series, and catastrophic-type stuff for the Kings to win. Kings won that Cup Final in five games, by the way. And it was over in three. Avs in five.

Sean Keeler, sports columnist:  What better way to start a 2022 nostalgia tour than by waving hello (and good-bye) to old friend Darcy Kuemper in the first round? Chances are the former Avs net-minder won’t play much, unless MacKinnon, Necas & Company batter Anton Forsberg, the Kings’ likely No. 1 goaltender, early. And they could. The Avalanche swept all three meetings this season by an average score of 4.3-1.7 and haven’t posted fewer than four goals in any tussle against the Kings since December 2023. L.A.’s only chance is to muck it up, slow it down, and try to make things as ugly as possible — the Kings feature the lowest-scoring offense of any postseason team at 2.68 goals per game. Context: The Avs averaged 2.36 goals by the end of the second period. Get ‘er done, get ‘er done quick, and rest up for the bare knuckle brawl that’s looming in the next round. Avs in five.

Troy Renck, sports columnist:  The President¶¶Òõap Trophy is a curse. But not in the first round. Not against the Kings. This is an ideal matchup for the Avs to work up a sweat before taking on the Dallas Stars. The Kings failed to manage a point against Colorado this season, outscored 13-5. The Kings received the interim coach boost – 11-6-6 – but they simply can’t score enough to avoid getting swept. Who is going to stop Nathan MacKinnon? Or Marty Necas? Or Cale Makar? No one, that’s who. Avs in four.

Lori Punko, deputy sports editor: The President’s Trophy winning Avs against the 20th best team in the NHL? It should — and most likely will — be a cakewalk for the Avs. Facing the Kings is a gift for MacKinnon & Company, but they need to take care of business and not look past this series to the winner of the Wild-Stars battle. Colorado got healthy at the right time, and if they dominate like they should, the Avs will be the better rested team going into the second round. Avs in five.

Kyle Newman, sportswriter:  Colorado makes an opening round statement: After winning the Presidents’ Trophy, they are in these playoffs to be the first winner of the trophy since the 2013 Blackhawks to also raise the Stanley Cup. Getting Cale Makar back from an upper-body injury that sidelined him for a few weeks down the stretch of the regular season is a boost to a roster already loaded with enough firepower to easily dismantle the Kings. The Avs will take care of business at home for a 2-0 lead in the series, then win a couple on the road to clinch the series by next Sunday in Los Angeles. The Kings put together a nice five-game win streak towards the end of the season, but their porous defense will be no match for the Avs’ top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Artturi Lehkonen and Martin Necas. Expect a lot of Colorado scoring blitzes in this series, as seen in the season opener when the Avs scored three second-period goals in a 4-1 win. Avs in four.

Here’s the full schedule and how to watch each game as the Avs embark on their 2026 playoff run starting Sunday at Ball Arena.

Avs vs. Kings playoff schedule

Game 1: 1 p.m. Sunday, April 19, Los Angeles at Colorado, ALT, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX (Final: Avs 2, Kings 1)
Game 2: 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, Los Angeles at Colorado, ALT, ESPN (Final: Avs 2, Kings 1)Ìý
Game 3: 8 p.m. Thursday, April 23, Colorado at Los Angeles, ALT, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX (Final: Avs 4, Kings 2)
Game 4: 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 26, Colorado at Los Angeles, ALT, TNT, truTV, HBO MAX
*Game 5: TBD Wednesday, April 29,  Los Angeles at Colorado
*Game 6: TBD Friday, May 1, Colorado at Los Angeles
*Game 7: TBD Sunday, May 3, Los Angeles at Colorado
*If necessary

The Avs had just checked off two of their three most-important goals for the regular season in one fell swoop. Colorado clinched the Central Division title and the top spot in the Western Conference with a 3-1 victory against the St. Louis Blues.

It was eight years to the day that Gabe Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon helped the Avs return to the playoffs by defeating these Blues at Ball Arena in a Game 82, winner-take-all showdown for a golden ticket to the NHL’s postseason tournament. This was a very different postgame atmosphere.

It felt like another Tuesday night in a season full of them. Landeskog even feigned ignorance about what they had just accomplished.

“We’re not all the way there yet,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “The goal for us started with winning the division and the conference (but) we still need another win to get first overall. We’d be crazy not to chase that at this point. It’s important, if you get to where you want to go, you might as well try and get your home ice, especially after a season like this.

“It feels great. I mean, we’re not throwing parades or that kind of stuff yet so, but we’re happy with where we’re at. We should celebrate it a little bit, because it’s a big goal of ours to start the year and we’ve accomplished part of it.”

For a group that has been in Stanley Cup or bust mode for at least the past six seasons, the Avs have kept the focus on what got them here — the process that led to a historic 31-2-7 start, and allows them to lock in and dominate a desperate team with far more motivation to show up and play well on a Tuesday night like this one.

How they played against the Blues was more important than celebrating a season-long accomplishment.

“Our focus has been trying to get our game to a point where we feel really about it defensively and offensively,” Landeskog said. “I really liked our game (Tuesday) night. I thought all four lines checked really hard. We created a lot of scoring chances. In the third period, I though we gave up a little bit too much, but they’re desperate. They’re playing for their lives at that point.”

The Avs are only 20-14-3 since that historic march to 69 points in 40 games. There have been lots of injuries. When two of their top-eight skaters (Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas, Artturi Lehkonen, Brock Nelson, Valeri Nichushkin and Landeskog) are missing, the Avs are 9-10-3.

When one or none is missing, the Avs are 11-4-0 since the white-hot start. That version of the Avalanche is still in there. Colorado showed it Saturday afternoon in Dallas, and again Tuesday night in St. Louis.

It was the third game in four nights against a red-hot team trying to make a miracle save of its season. The Avs came out and suffocated St. Louis for the first two periods.

“I don’t have to see it for 60 minutes for every game the rest of the way,” Bednar said. “But we need to see it enough to secure our goals and making sure everyone is confident in the way we play and the trust you have in your teammates that you can do it the right way. That’s another big step for us (Tuesday) night.”

Bednar made it clear there is still one more to go. The Avs need some combination of two points gained or two lost by the Carolina Hurricanes to wrap up the Presidents’ Trophy and home-ice advantage through the Stanley Cup Final.

Beyond that, the Avs’ main goals through the final five games will be to get everyone as healthy as possible, and hopefully see a couple of strong outings from Mackenzie Blackwood, who has scuffled recently. There wasn’t a celebratory vibe in the cramped visitors locker room at Enterprise Center, but the Avs know one thing they’ve earned — fewer nights in small, unfamiliar rooms like this one once the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin.

“There’s no do or die for it, but if you have the opportunity, you’re going to take it,” goalie Scott Wedgewood said after another strong start. “Home ice is super important. It’s an advantage. You spend more days at home in between rounds.

“Hopefully that will pay dividends for us.”

The Avs suffocated the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night, dominating at the defensive end and on the shot clock en route to a 3-1 win at the Enterprise Center. The victory clinches the Central Division title and secures the top seed in the Western Conference during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

It is the 13th division title since the franchise moved to Denver. It also came eight years to the day since Jared Bednar and this core of Avs players defeated these Blues in Game No. 82 to secure their first playoff berth together at the end of the 2017-18 campaign.

“We set our goals at the start of the year, and we wanted to be on top,” Avs captain Gabe Landeskog said. “That’s a big step. We know it doesn’t mean anything come playoff time, other than we get an extra game at home every series.

“I think the most important thing for us is the way we played tonight. We’re working on our process, working on our game here. It’s going to be difficult playing some desperate teams, but we are tightening things up and making sure we are ready to start fresh when the playoffs start.”

Securing a division title has been a top priority for this club since Day One of training camp, particularly after last season ended with a crushing Game 7 loss in North Texas. Winning the Central means the Dallas Stars, who have been the second-best team in the NHL for much of this season, will have to play the Minnesota Wild, who spent part of this year as the third-best team and remain in the top-seven in the opening round.

Colorado’s first-round opponent remains to be determined, but the club that began the day in the second wild-card spot, the Los Angeles Kings, was in 20th place in the NHL standings — 17 points behind the Wild. The victory also moves the Avalanche to within one point earned or one point lost by the Carolina Hurricanes to clinch the Presidents’ Trophy and home-ice advantage throughout the postseason.

The Avs have been the standard-setter for the NHL this entire season. Colorado has been alone in first place in the NHL standings since Dec. 1, and had one of the best starts to a season in league history when the Avs went 31-2-7 in their first 40 contests.

That version of the Avs hasn’t shown up quite as consistently in the second half, at times in part because of injuries, but it did Tuesday night on the banks of the Mississippi River.

“We’ve been a little up and down here recently,” Bednar said. “Didn’t like our game against (Vancouver), loved it against Dallas. Didn’t love our game defensively the other night against the Blues, but tonight I really liked it. We are proving that we can do it when we set our minds to it, which is really important.”

Valeri Nichushkin, returning from a one-game injury absence, scored twice for the Avs. Scott Wedgewood had another night with long stretches of light work, but made 18 saves and is now 12-5-2 in 2006. Colorado is 9-9-0 since Jan. 1 when Wedgewood is not the goalie of record.

Colorado had arguably its most dominant period of the season to begin this contest. The Avs opened a 2-0 lead that could have been much worse. They outshot the Blues 17-2, and the shot attempts were 33-7. Per Natural Stat Trick, Colorado generated more than 96% of the expected goals in the opening 20 minutes.

“Those games as a goaltender, they’re still going to throw pucks at you, and everything still feels dangerous,” Wedgewood said. “But if you’re not facing the odd-man opportunities we gave up against Vancouver and the other night (against St. Louis), it’s a lot easier to not have to make desperation saves and keep things in front of you.”

Nichushkin had the first one, a tip-in of a Devon Toews shot at 16:11. Martin Necas had the second with 28 seconds left in the period.

It was Necas’ 37th goal of the year. Nathan MacKinnon had a great chance to score earlier in the shift before setting Necas up with an assist for point No. 123. That is the fourth-most in franchise history, behind his 140 two years ago and two seasons from Peter Stastny (124 in 1982-83 and 139 in 1981-82).

Nichushkin added his second of the night and 17th of the season 1:40 into the middle period while shorthanded. Brock Nelson set him up, cutting to the net, and Nichushkin put his stick between his legs for a highlight-reel goal.

“I liked his last handful of games,” Bednar said. “He’s looking like the old Val again. … It was a little bit of a continuation of what he’s been doing. He could have had three or four tonight. I really liked the way he played.”

FOOTNOTES: Nazem Kadri left this game in the second period with an upper-body injury. He blocked a shot with his hand in his final shift. … While Nichushkin and Nicolas Roy returned to the lineup, Cale Makar did not play. Bednar said he will likely miss a few more games, but is still expected to return before the playoffs begin.

Makar did not play in the third period Monday night of a 9-2 win against the Calgary Flames. Nick Blankenburg will replace Makar in the lineup Wednesday night at Ball Arena against the Vancouver Canucks. Sam Malinski will take his place quarterbacking the top power-play unit.

“He’s doing OK,” Bednar said. “He going to miss some time, though. Nothing serious, like nothing that is putting playoffs in jeopardy or anything like that. But like I said with Nic Roy, if someone has something going on at this time of the year, we want to make sure they’re right for playoffs and the last handful of games of the season. So yeah, we’re going to keep him out for a little bit.”

into the boards late in the second period Monday. Makar took two more shifts, including one that ended with his assist on a Nathan MacKinnon power-play goal, but did not return for the final 20 minutes.

Makar has 20 goals and 75 points in 73 games this season. Malinski has only logged 11:09 of ice time on the power play this season — far less than Devon Toews and Brent Burns — but Bednar said Malinski is producing the most in the offensive zone right now and sees it as a good opportunity to take a lot at one of the club’s breakout players of the season.

“It’s a big responsibility, for sure,” Malinski said. “It’s not like I haven’t run a power play before. It’s been a little while for me, but … it’s pretty good players. I can just kind of give them the puck and watch them go.”

Malinski has five goals and 34 points, which is seventh on the Avs and second among defensemen behind Makar, this season. Blankenburg has played three games for the Avs since arriving just before the trade deadline from Nashville.

Sam Malinski, Hank Kempf and Matt Stienburg were there, with a couple other Cornell alums. Logan O’Connor and Sean Behrens were not in the building to watch the University of Denver Pioneers cruise past the Big Red in the first-round of the NCAA tournament, but the 5-0 victory is almost certain to come up again in the locker rooms of the Colorado Avalanche and Colorado Eagles in the near future.

Behrens won two national championships at DU in 2022 and 2024, but Malinski’s Big Red knocked the Pios out of the 2023 NCAA tournament. History lessons, especially with the NCAA tournament and the IIHF world junior championships, are common source material for chirps in an NHL locker room at certain times of the year.

With the NCAA hockey tournament in full swing, we’re going to borrow an idea from Nuggets writer (and Avs beat alum) Bennett Durando. Given that hockey has a more robust path for players to reach the professional ranks, we’re not just going to focus on the NCAA guys.

It’s a little tricky, but we’re going to classify this as “before North American pro hockey.” So playing in a pro league overseas as a young player will count, but the AHL will not.

So, who were the most accomplished Avs players in their younger days? Some of the names won’t be surprises, but a couple might be.

1. Cale Makar 

It’s a pretty interesting debate between the top two guys on this list, just like it can be an intriguing discussion at times about their value to the present-day Avalanche. Makar won the Hobey Baker Award as the best player in college hockey and helped UMass reach the Frozen Four. He also won the Hockey East Player of the Year and was an NCAA All-America selection. He also helped Canada win gold at the world junior tournament. Before that, he also swept every major award in the Alberta Junior Hockey League and helped the Brooks Bandits win the league championship twice.

2. Nathan MacKinnon

MacKinnon won the QMJHL and, famously, the Memorial Cup with the Halifax Mooseheads. He was the MVP of the Memorial Cup, which included outplaying fellow potential No. 1 pick Seth Jones. He wasn’t the MVP of his team before that — Jonathan Drouin was. MacKinnon also won the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and led the tournament in scoring, but he was a depth guy on the WJC team, and Canada did not medal.

3. Artturi Lehkonen

It’s a pretty good debate about third and fourth on this list, as well. Lehkonen played for Finland at the world junior tournament three times, and won a gold medal. He also won the Liiga Rookie of the Year and a bronze medal at the U-18 world championships. Lehkonen spent a year in Sweden before coming to North America, and he won both the Swedish Hockey League and the Champions League with Frolunda.

4. Martin Necas 

Necas was a more productive junior player than Lehkonen, but it shouldn’t be a surprise that Lehkonen has done so much winning at all levels of his career. Necas has done plenty of that as well, and he’d be higher if we included his Calder Cup title with the Charlotte Checkers. Necas won the Czech Extraliga twice and was named both the league’s rookie of the year in 2017 and MVP in 2018. He also won the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and led that tournament in scoring.

5. Nicolas Roy

Roy was a superstar in the QMJHL. He was named a first-team all-star twice and led the ‘Q’ in goals one year. He has a nice collection of international medals as well — gold at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, silver at the world juniors and bronze at the U-18 tournament.

6. Gavin Brindley

Brindley played for the Americans twice at the WJC, winning both gold and bronze medals. He also won silver at the U-18 tournament. He won Big Ten player of the year and earned NCAA All-America honors while at Michigan.

7. Valeri Nichushkin 

Nichushkin won a gold medal at the U-17 world championships and a bronze medal at the WJC. He also won rookie of the year in the KHLin 2012-13 with Traktor Chelyabinsk. During that season, he played in international tournaments with Igor Shesterkin (U-18) and Andrei Vasilevskiy (WJC) as the starting goalies.

8. Nazem Kadri 

Kadri won a silver medal at world juniors. He also played in the Ontario Hockey League with Kitchener, a team coached by Peter DeBoer, and was named a second-team OHL all-star.

9. Brock Nelson

Before he became an American Olympic champion, Nelson won bronze at the world junior tournament. He also had a strong career at North Dakota, winning the old WCHA twice and playing in the Frozen Four.

10. Logan O’Connor 

O’Connor won an NCAA championship with the Pioneers. He also won the Clark Cup in the USHL as captain of the Sioux Falls Stampede.

Honorable mentions: Devon Toews won the British Columbia Hockey League with Surrey before winning the ECAC and reaching the Frozen Four with Quinnipiac. Parker Kelly won the WHL with Prince Albert. Mackenzie Blackwood won OHL goalie of the year, made the all-rookie team and was a first-team all-star with Barrie.

The Avs came to PPG Paints Arena and while it looked far from a masterpiece at times, routed the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 6-2 victory.

Martin Necas scored twice, Scott Wedgewood made 30 saves and both special teams units made an impact in the club’s third straight victory. This same Penguins team walloped the Avs, 7-2, at Ball Arena last week.

“There were plenty of games we played this season that we played better than tonight,” Avs captain Gabe Landeskog said. “I think the first period, we were opportunistic. We created some chances, and we were able to put them in the back of the net.

“By no stretch was that our best game, especially offensively. I thought we checked hard. I thought we worked hard. Thought the details were there on the defensive side of things, but offensively the juice just wasn’t quite there. And that’s OK — you’ve got to find a way to win like that too.”

Nathan MacKinnon opened the scoring with his league-leading 46th goal of the season. He took the puck off Parker Wotherspoon near the blue line in his own end, then went by the Pittsburgh defenseman and snapped one just under the crossbar on the partial breakaway.

Pittsburgh answered with an Egor Chinakhov goal at 8:09 of the first. Former Avs defenseman Samuel Girard set him up. Girard wasn’t able to play when these teams met last week because of an injury, but that was his second point with Pittsburgh since the trade late last month that sent him here with a second-round pick for Brett Kulak.

At the midpoint of the first period, the Avs looked second-best, one great play from MacKinnon aside. Then, the puck started going in.

Sam Malinski’s first shot was blockered away by Arturs Silvos, but when the puck came back to the Colorado defenseman later in the shift he didn’t miss. His wrist shot through traffic made it a 2-1 game at 15:24.

Necas scored his first of the night on the power play 80 seconds later. Josh Manson drew a tripping penalty behind the Colorado net, and five seconds after the ensuing faceoff, Necas blew a one-timer from Cale Makar past Silvos to extend the lead.

Parker Kelly capped the flurry 35 seconds later. Logan O’Connor, making his season debut after multiple ailments caused him to miss the first 69 games, corralled the puck behind the Pittsburgh net and snapped a pass to Kelly for a goal in front at 17:19.

It was far from the Avalanche’s best period of the season, but it was also 4-1 at the first intermission.

“(Wedgewood) was outstanding,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Sloppy game for us. We capitalized and made some nice places to score some goals, but we also beat the puck up quite a bit and had some turnovers. When we did that, (Wedgewood) made some huge saves. It was just that simple.”

Necas added the lone goal that counted in the middle period. He was in the right place to bang home the rebound of a Devon Toews shot from the top of the offensive zone with 2:31 left in a period where the visitors didn’t create a lot of offensive looks.

That is now 34 goals and 88 points this season for Necas. Both are already career-best marks, but his hot streak since the Olympic break has given him a real chance to reach 40 goals and 100 points. He leads the NHL with 12 goals and is second with 26 points since the hiatus.

Pittsburgh thought it had made the score 4-2 at 7:38 of the second, but the Avs challenged for goaltender inference and got a Justin Brazeau tally overturned. Brazeau made contact with Wedgewood at the edge of the crease at about the same time Ryan Shea took the initial shot. Then Brazeau made further contact with Wedgewood as he went to get the rebound.

Shortly after that, the Avs had to kill off Nazem Kadri’s double-minor for high-sticking. Colorado erased both ends of the penalty and created multiple shorthanded odd-man rushes. The Avs also had to kill off 63 seconds of a 5-on-3 in the third period, and Wedgewood made a few great saves to do so.

The Avs’ penalty kill struggled right after the Olympic break, but the PK is now 18 of 20 (90.0%) in the past seven games.

Ross Colton, who like O’Connor returned from an injury absence in this contest, scored into an empty net with 3:40 remaining for his ninth of the season.

“We’ll take it,” Bednar said. “It certainly wasn’t the game or performance that we were, but it was certainly the result we were looking for.”