The Colorado Avalanche snatched the first place of the regular season, awarded with the President’s Trophy, Thursday night, after crushing the Los Angeles Kings for the second day in a row (5-1). The Denver players had a sluggish start to the game and found themselves trapped by the time of the first break. They then put a huge boost with five goals in less than ten minutes.
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Tyson Jost unlocked his team’s counter with a double (30th, 32nd) then it was Pierre-Edouard Bellemare who made the break (3-1, 35th). Already scorer the day before (still against Los Angeles), the French scored his ninth goal of the season, equaling his personal best (in only 53 matches). He had established last season already shortened (69 games played). Jonas Donskoi (37th) then Andre Burakovsky (39th) then definitively ensured the victory of the Avalanche and the final score (5-1).
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Colorado in the lead, a first since 2001
Thanks to this success, Colorado joined the Vegas Golden Knights in the number of points (82) and symbolically obtains the first place of the regular season with the benefit of the victories obtained in the regulation time. This is the first time since 2001 that Colorado has won this trophy. At the time, the franchise had also won the second Stanley Cup in its history. But since then, the winners of the President’s trophy have often suffered. Only Detroit (2002 and 2008) and Chicago (2013) managed to confirm the result of the regular season in the play-offs.
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In the first round of the play-offs, Colorado will face the St Louis Blues, champion in 2019. The latter dominated the Minnesota Wild (7-3) with doubles from David Perron and Brayden Schenn. The first match will take place on the night of Monday to Tuesday.
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The regular season is not quite over since a few matches postponed due to Covid-19 are still to be played. The Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames, already opposed Thursday (Calgary victory 4-1), will meet again three times. Vancouver will also face Edmonton on Saturday. Toronto – Winnipeg will be held next night.
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