The Avalanche have a chance to do something they haven’t done in 20 years on Thursday.
Game 56. Ball Arena. Los Angeles Kings.
Win that game, and you’re the Presidents’ Trophy winners, which guarantees home-ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Colorado defeated L.A. 6-0 in the first of two meetings Wednesday at Ball Arena to give itself a shot at having the NHL’s best record. The Vegas Golden Knights, who have a two-point lead on the Avs, won their season finale Wednesday at San Jose to remain atop the West Division. At least for now.
Deen’s List:
Compher’s scoring spree
Heating up right before the start of the playoffs is exactly what the Avalanche could use from one of their depth forwards. J.T. Compher, who has played both wing and center on each of the four lines, is suddenly on fire.
He scored the game-winning goal in a crucial 2-1 come-from-behind victory at Vegas on Monday, then followed that up with his first career hat trick Wednesday. Compher has 10 goals and four have come in the last four periods.
Not bad for a forward outside of the top-six.
Landeskog’s milestones
Captain Gabe Landeskog’s goal was a milestone marker in two ways. The goal was his 20th of the season — an accomplishment he’s reached for the eighth time in 10 seasons.
But it was also the 218th goal of his career, which passes Peter Forsberg (217 goals) for sixth-most in franchise history. Landeskog is also third in goals scored with just the Avalanche after relocating from Quebec. He trails legendary Hall of Famer and current Avs general manager Joe Sakic and fellow Colorado legend Milan Hejduk.
And he’s only 28.
Grubauer’s big 30
Goaltender Philipp Grubauer is having himself an incredible season. Coming off an injury-riddled 2019-20 campaign — one that saw him split time with backup Pavel Francouz in both the regular season and playoffs — Grubauer has rebounded in a massive way.
He appeared in 40 of the Avalanche’s games and is not playing Thursday unless it is in relief. Grubauer is one of just two goalies to reach 30 wins in this shortened season (Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay). He is also tied for the league lead with former Av netminder Semyon Varlamov, now of the New York Islanders, with seven shutouts.
Grubauer has a legitimate shot at winning the Vezina Trophy. And it’s very much deserved.
Scoring race
Mikko Rantanen’s three assists bring him to 64 points on the season. Heading into Thursday’s finale, Rantanen is just one point back of superstar center Nathan MacKinnon for the team’s scoring lead. MacKinnon is shut down until the playoffs because of a minor injury.
If Rantanen records two points, he will pass MacKinnon and be the first player not named MacKinnon to lead the Avalanche in scoring since former Avs center Matt Duchene in 2015-16.
The Moose wants it. Can he get it?
Ball Arena crowd
It’s not a game note but it’s certainly a worthy one.
The Avalanche and Kroenke Sports & Entertainment announced Wednesday that Ball Arena will increase capacity from 22.1 percent to 42.3 percent starting with Game 1 of the playoffs. The current capacity of 4,050 will nearly double as 7,750 will be in attendance for playoff games.
“It’s going to be super exciting. We’re super happy to hear the news,” Landeskog said. “The four thousand that we’ve had, it means a lot for us and sounds a lot more than four thousand. We’re excited to almost double that and get some more people in for the playoffs.”
