DENVER (AP) — Nick Blankenburg scored a second-period goal, Scott Wedgewood made 22 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Seattle Kraken 2-0 on Thursday night to break the franchise's single-season points record.
The Avalanche won the Presidents' Trophy with 121 points, eclipsing the total of 119 points set by the 2021-22 squad that went on to win the Stanley Cup.
Colorado hosts the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday
to begin the playoffs. The last time the teams played in the postseason was the 2002 conference quarterfinals when the Avalanche won in seven games.
The Kraken missed the playoffs with a final record of 34-37-11.
Blankenburg broke a scoreless game with a late second-period goal. He had a goal in the opening period overturned after Seattle challenged for offside.
Parker Kelly scored in the third period, while Valeri Nichushkin added a pair of assists. Wedgewood won his 31st game of the season. Colorado rested several key players in the season finale, including Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas and captain Gabriel Landeskog.
MacKinnon finished with a career-high 53 goals to win the Rocket Richard Trophy as the league’s goal-scoring leader.
The Kraken lost a seventh straight game to Colorado. Victor Ostman made his first NHL start and turned back 33 shots. Ostman's debut was last season in relief.
Seattle and Colorado were a combined 0 for 6 on the power play.
Coach Jared Bednar was back behind the bench for Colorado. He missed the team's recent two-game trip after being hit in the face by a puck last weekend.
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