Tyson Jost scored two goals and the Colorado Avalanche clinched home-ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 5-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday in Denver.
The Avalanche won the Presidents’ Trophy for the first time since 2000-01, the last season in which they won the Stanley Cup.
Andre Burakovsky had a goal and an assist, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Joonas Donskoi each scored for the Avalanche, who will play the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the playoffs.
Sean Walker scored and Troy Grosenick made 38 saves for Los Angeles, which went 3-5 against Colorado this season and were outscored 11-1 in the final two games against the Avalanche.
Flames 4, Canucks 1
First-period goals by Rasmus Andersson and Andrew Mangiapane held up as host Calgary claimed a comeback victory over Vancouver.
Elias Lindholm and Matthew Tkachuk both scored late in the third period to cap two-point games, while goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves for the Flames, who have won two straight games and moved up to the fifth spot in the North Division, but have been officially eliminated from playoff contention.
Matthew Highmore replied with the lone goal for the Canucks, who have only two wins in their last 11 outings and also will miss the playoffs. Goaltender Thatcher Demko stopped 24 shots in the loss.
Blues 7, Wild 3
Brayden Schenn, David Perron and Jordan Kyrou each scored twice as St. Louis rallied past visiting Minnesota on the strength of seven unanswered goals.
The Blues closed their regular season by erasing a 3-0 first-period deficit to defeat the Wild for the second straight night. Zach Sanford also scored for the Blues, Mike Hoffman earned three assists, and Jordan Binnington made 17 saves.
With nothing to play for, the Wild rested top forwards Karill Kaprizov, Kevin Fiala and Mats Zuccarello along with key defensemen Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin. Minnesota got goals from Nico Sturm, Ryan Suter and Marcus Foligno and 20 saves from Kaapo Kahkonen.
–Field Level Media
