The Colorado Avalanche took home the Presidents’ Trophy Thursday night following a 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames at Ball Arena.
Colorado improved to 52-16-10, reaching 114 points with 4 games remaining. The franchise has now claimed the Presidents’ Trophy 4 times (1996-97, 2000-01, 2020-21, 2025-26), tying the Boston Bruins and Recent York Rangers for the second-most all-time, behind the Detroit Red Wings (six). The Avalanche also secured the Central Division title earlier within the week and holds the tiebreaker over Carolina, despite the Hurricanes being just six points behind.
Nathan MacKinnon led the best way with a goal and two assists, reaching a career-high 52 goals, which leads the NHL. His empty-net goal at 19:05 of the third period ensured the win. MacKinnon also became the primary player in franchise history (including Quebec Nordiques era) to record 20 three-point games in a single season.
Martin Necas contributed a goal and two assists, scoring his thirty eighth of the season, while Gabriel Landeskog opened the scoring with a power-play goal late in the primary period. Mackenzie Blackwood made 28 saves in net for Colorado, while Dustin Wolf stopped 38 shots for Calgary.
The Flames (32-37-9) were eliminated from playoff contention for the fourth straight season earlier within the week. Rookie Tyson Gross scored his first NHL goal in his third profession game to chop the deficit to 2-1 late within the third. He appeared to tie the sport moments later, however the goal was overturned for offside after an Avalanche challenge.
Colorado played without Nazem Kadri (finger injury) and Cale Makar (upper body). Veteran defenseman Brent Burns finished with an assist, bringing his season count to 34 points. At age 41, he tied Nicklas Lidstrom for the second-most points in a season by a defenseman aged 40 or older.
With 52 wins, the Avalanche are tied for the second-most in franchise history, just 4 shy of the record 56, and so they could grow to be the primary team in franchise history to achieve 120 points, a feat only 12 teams in NHL history have completed. Interestingly enough, Colorado is just the sixth team to guide the league standings constantly from Nov. 1 through the season’s end.
The Avalanche will enter the playoffs because the No. 1 seed within the Western Conference and can face the second wild-card team, avoiding a first-round matchup against the highest division contenders, Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild.
The Colorado Avalanche took home the Presidents’ Trophy Thursday night following a 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames at Ball Arena. Colorado improved to 52-16-10, reaching 114 points with 4 games remaining. The franchise has now claimed the Presidents’ Trophy 4 times (1996-97, 2000-01, 2020-21, 2025-26), tying the Boston Bruins and Recent York Rangers for the second-most all-time, behind the Detroit Red Wings (six).