Avalanche clinch; Montreal moments
The Colorado Avalanche clinched the NHL’s Presidents’ Trophy for the season’s best regular‑season record, a headline that reignites talk about whether the trophy predicts playoff success. (x.com) Meanwhile Montreal fans had reasons to celebrate: Cole Caufield hit his 50th goal and Juraj Slafkovsky delivered a late game‑winner against Tampa Bay, two buzzy developments for Canadiens supporters. (x.com) (x.com)
Colorado just locked up the National Hockey League’s best regular-season record with a 3-1 win over Calgary on April 9, and that puts the Avalanche in the strange seat every top seed knows well: celebrated today, doubted tomorrow. Nathan MacKinnon scored his 52nd goal in the clincher, and Colorado reached 114 points. (nhl.com) The award is called the Presidents’ Trophy, and it goes to the team that finishes first over 82 games, not the team that survives four playoff rounds. Colorado has won it four times in franchise history: 1997, 2001, 2021, and now 2026. (nhl.com) (theathletic.com) That split is why hockey fans talk about the trophy like it is half honor, half warning. The regular season rewards depth, travel stamina, and consistency from October to April, while the playoffs can turn on one hot goalie or one bad week. (nhl.com 1) (nhl.com 2) Colorado’s case for being more than a regular-season machine starts with the names at the top. MacKinnon drove the clinching win with a goal and two assists, and coach Jared Bednar became the eighth coach in league history to win the Presidents’ Trophy at least twice with the same team. (nhl.com 1) (nhl.com 2) The Montreal story hit a different nerve. Cole Caufield scored his 50th goal on April 9 against Tampa Bay, and he became the first Canadiens player to reach 50 in a season in 36 years. (nhl.com) That number matters in Montreal because the franchise’s scoring history is crowded with ghosts. Before Caufield, the last Canadien to hit 50 was Stéphane Richer in 1989-90, which means one of hockey’s most decorated teams went more than three decades without a 50-goal season. (nhl.com) (dailyfaceoff.com) Then the game gave fans a second jolt. Tampa Bay tied it late through Darren Raddysh, but Juraj Slafkovsky answered with the winner with just over a minute left, giving Montreal a 2-1 victory instead of a feel-good night spoiled at the end. (tsn.ca) (sports.yahoo.com) Slafkovsky’s goal was his 30th of the season, which turns the Montreal buzz from one-player milestone into a bigger picture. Caufield is now a 50-goal scorer, and Slafkovsky is now a 30-goal winger, which is the kind of pairing teams spend years trying to draft and develop. (tsn.ca) So the same night delivered two very different April questions. Colorado has to prove that 114 points can survive the chaos of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and Montreal has to prove that one electric win can become a real core instead of a loud memory. (nhl.com 1) (nhl.com 2)
