Avalanche seal Presidents’ Trophy
The Colorado Avalanche clinched the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL regular season tightened, while the Pittsburgh Penguins and Utah Mammoth each secured playoff spots — every team now has four or fewer games left, making seeding critical. (usatoday.com) (espn.com) The Nashville Predators entered April 9 with a one‑point lead for the final Western wild‑card, so the closing stretch will be intense for positioning. (tennessean.com)
Colorado wrapped up the National Hockey League’s best regular-season record on April 9 with a 3-1 win over Calgary, so the Avalanche now own the Presidents’ Trophy and home-ice advantage through the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Nathan MacKinnon scored his 52nd goal in that game, and Colorado reached 114 points. (nhl.com) (usatoday.com) That trophy goes to the team with the most points over 82 games, not the team that wins the Cup in June. It also guarantees Colorado would open every playoff series at home, which matters more when every other contender is down to four games or fewer left. (nhl.com) (usatoday.com) Colorado has finished first in the league four times now: 1997, 2001, 2021, and 2026. The Avalanche were already the first team to clinch a playoff berth this season, and they turned that early cushion into the top seed in the entire bracket. (nytimes.com) (bleacherreport.com) The standings are still moving underneath them. Pittsburgh grabbed a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, while Utah did the same in the Western Conference, so the race has shifted from “who gets in” to “who gets which matchup.” (usatoday.com) (espn.com) Pittsburgh’s clinch matters because the Metropolitan Division is still crowded above the cut line. ESPN’s wild-card table on April 10 showed Carolina leading the division with 108 points, Pittsburgh second with 98, and Philadelphia third with 92, which means one good or bad night can still reshuffle who starts on the road. (espn.com 1) (espn.com 2) Utah’s clinch came with a direct hit on Nashville. The Mammoth beat the Predators 4-1 on April 9 for a fifth straight win, moved to 90 points, and opened a six-point gap over Nashville in the Western wild-card race. (sports.yahoo.com) (tennessean.com) A day earlier, Nashville had entered that game holding the final Western wild-card spot with 84 points, just one point ahead of Los Angeles, and the Kings had a game in hand. That is the hockey version of reaching the airport with minutes before boarding: you are still alive, but every delay hurts. (tennessean.com) (nhl.com) As of April 10, ESPN’s wild-card standings listed Utah as the first Western wild card and showed Los Angeles and Nashville still fighting for the second spot behind them. That means Colorado’s reward for finishing first is not a fixed opponent yet, because the last Western ticket is still bouncing between teams. (espn.com) (nhl.com) So the headline is simple but the ending is not: Colorado has locked the league’s top seed, but almost everyone else is still sliding around the board. With only a handful of games left, one overtime point can be the difference between home ice, a cross-country trip, or missing the playoffs entirely. (usatoday.com) (cbssports.com)
