Avalanche will play Coyotes in Western Conference First Round

The Colorado Avalanche will play the Arizona Coyotes in the Western Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Colorado was 2-0-1 in the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers to earn the No. 2 seed in the West. Arizona eliminated the Nashville Predators in a best-of-5 qualifier series and will be the No. 7 seed.

Game 1 is Wednesday (5:30 p.m.; NBCSN, SN360, TVAS).

"It's a huge challenge," Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon said. "They've a very good team, well-structured. Got some good offense. You guys know what they're like, I don't have to explain it. It's going to be a tough series, we'll do our homework tomorrow and Monday. I don't know when we are going to play, but we'll be well-prepared and ready to go for Game 1."

Nazem Kadri (two goals, two assists) and Mikko Rantanen (four assists) led the Avalanche in the round-robin with four points each, and MacKinnon scored three points (one goal, two assists). Philipp Grubauer was 1-0-1 with a 2.46 goals-against average and .914 save percentage. Pavel Francouz made 27 saves in a 4-0 win against the Dallas Stars on Aug. 5.

"It's going to be tough. they have a lot of skilled players, highly skilled guys, who work really hard," Coyotes captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. "I feel like they're a good team all over the ice and it's going to be a good challenge for us but I'm feeling good about our team. everyone bought in since day one so we're going to work hard and do whatever we can to win the series."

Clayton Keller had two goals and two assists, and Phil Kessel, Taylor Hall and Ekman-Larsson each scored one goal with three assists for four points to lead Arizona. Darcy Kuemper was 3-1-0 with a 2.77 GAA and .933 save percentage, making 152 saves on 163 shots.

The Avalanche and Coyotes split two games this season. Andre Burakovsky (one goal, one assist) and Cale Makar (two assists) each scored two points for Colorado. Francouz was 1-1-0 with a 2.44 GAA and .922 save percentage.

"Arizona has an identity, they play to it every night, they are very consistent in what they do," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "They're going to make it difficult on our guys. We're going to have to be ready to deal with their checking. It's nothing that we haven't seen before. ... They're a really good hockey team, they've proven it already here in the bubble."

Nick Schmaltz (one goal, one assist), Kessel (one goal, one assist), and Keller and Alex Goligoski (two assists) each scored two points against the Avalanche. Kuemper made 33 saves in a 3-0 shutout on Nov. 2; Antti Raanta allowed three goals on 32 shots in a 3-2 overtime loss on Oct. 12.

"A very talented offensive team and they defend extremely hard too," Arizona forward Derek Stepan said. "One of the best teams at defending and they've got shot-blockers. We certainly have our hands full. This is one of the best teams in the NHL, so we'd better be ready to play. "

This will be the second playoff series between the teams; Colorado defeated Arizona in five games in the Western Conference Quarterfinals in 2000.

The Avalanche qualified for the playoffs for a third straight season; the Coyotes are in the postseason for the first time since 2012. The best-of-7 series will be played at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the hub city for the Western Conference.