NHL: Avalanche rout Kings 5-1 to take top seed in play-offs
Denver: Tyson Jost scored two of Colorado’s five second-period goals and the Avalanche clinched the West Division and the top overall seed in the NHL play-offs with a 5-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Joonas Donskoi and Andre Burakovsky also scored in the pivotal period. Backup Jonas Johansson made 21 saves to help the Avalanche finish 7-1 against the Kings this season.
Colorado and Vegas both finished with 82 points, but the Avs earned the division crown and the Presidents’ Trophy – awarded to the team with the best regular-season mark – on regulation wins. The Avalanche won the Presidents’ Trophy for the first time since 2000-01, when they went on to hoist the Stanley Cup.
David Perron, Brayden Schenn, and Jordan Kyrou each scored twice and St. Louis scored seven straight goals to erase a first-period deficit and beat Minnesota 7-3.
Elias Lindholm and Matthew Tkachuk each had a goal and an assist in Calgary’s 4-1 victory over Vancouver. Rasmus Andersson and Andrew Mangiapane also scored, Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves and Johnny Gaudreau had two assists. Matthew Highmore scored for Vancouver.
