Avalanche: 39-13-4, 82 points
Blues: 27-20-9, 63 points
Season series: COL 5-3-0; STL 3-5-0
Game 1: Monday (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN1, TVAS, ALT, BSMW)
The Avalanche and Blues will meet in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second time, the first since the 2001 Western Conference Final.
Colorado won that best-of-7 series in five games on its way to its second championship; it also won the Cup in 1996.
The Avalanche won their last five games and clinched the Presidents' Trophy, awarded to the team with the best record in the NHL regular season. It's the third time they've won the Presidents' Trophy since it was first awarded in 1985-86. They did so in 2000-01, when they defeated the New Jersey Devils in seven games to win the Stanley Cup, and in 1996-97, when they lost to the Detroit Red Wings in six games in the Western Conference Final.
Colorado, which is making its fourth straight playoff appearance, had a 15-game point streak from March 10-April 5 (13-0-2) and an Avalanche-record-tying 17-game home point streak (16-0-1) from March 10-May 13. They finished tied with the Vegas Golden Knights in the Honda West Division but won the first tiebreaker, which was regulation wins (35-30).
"It feels good," Colorado forward Mikko Rantanen said. "We achieved the first goal we had this year, to get the home-ice advantage for the whole playoffs, and we checked the one box. Everybody knows what the next box is, so we have to start working on that. I believe in this group. Our goal is to go all the way to the end."
The Avalanche have nine players who scored at least 30 points, led by Rantanen, who scored 66 (30 goals, 36 assists) in 52 games, and center Nathan MacKinnon, who scored 65 (20 goals, 45 assists) in 48 games.
The Blues, who won the Stanley Cup in 2019, are one of three teams to reach the postseason in at least nine of 10 seasons since 2011-12 (Pittsburgh Penguins, 10; Washington Capitals, nine). The St. Louis roster includes 17 players who have won the Cup, including 16 from the 2019 championship team (forward Kyle Clifford won it with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012 and 2014).
"When we're skating and we're physical, I think we give [Colorado] a lot of issues," Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly said. "Whether that's forecheck or defending, when we play our heavy game and commit to it and put pucks in and don't feed their rush, we make it tough on them and find ways to beat them. That's what we've got to do. That's got to be our focus."
St. Louis forward Vladimir Tarasenko missed the final six regular-season games and eight of the last nine with a lower-body injury. Tarasenko didn't make his season debut until March 6 after he had surgery on his left shoulder for the third time Sept. 17, 2020. He played four games last postseason before being shut down after Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round against the Vancouver Canucks on Aug. 14. Tarasenko scored 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in 24 games this season.
Blues defenseman Vince Dunn, who scored 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in 43 games, missed the last 11 games with an upper-body injury.
Tarasenko and Dunn are improving, coach Craig Berube said.
David Perron, who led the Blues with 58 points (19 goals, 39 assists) in 56 games, was placed on the NHL COVID-19 protocol list Saturday. He scored 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in his last 11 regular-season games and is the first point-per-game player for St. Louis since Pavol Demitra scored 93 points in 78 games in 2002-03.
