Avalanche defeat Kings to win West, Presidents' Trophy

DENVER -- The Colorado Avalanche clinched the Presidents' Trophy and No. 1 seed in the Honda West Division when they defeated the Los Angeles Kings 5-1 at Ball Arena on Thursday.

"It feels good," Avalanche 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."
Tyson Jost scored twice in a five-goal second period, Andre Burakovsky had a goal and an assist, and Rantanen had two assists for Colorado (39-13-4), which won its final five games. Jonas Johansson made 21 saves.
The Avalanche will play the No. 4 seed St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup First Round with Game 1 of the best-of-7 series here Monday. Colorado was 5-3-0 against St. Louis.
"It's awesome, feels good," Jost said. "First place, it's something we've been going for the whole year. It was a goal we set in training camp.
"It's an awesome group of guys, this is an awesome regular season and there's much more ahead of us, so it's exciting. I'm happy to be contributing and I can't wait for playoffs."

Sean Walker scored, and Troy Grosenick made 38 saves for Los Angeles (21-28-7), which lost its final five games (0-4-1).
"There was a point where we really believed we could be a team that was going to push for [the playoffs], and then it slipped away on us and the belief system slipped away," Kings coach Todd McLellan said. "We have to sit back and review everything."
Walker gave the Kings a 1-0 lead with 45 seconds left in the first period, shooting glove side on a breakaway.
Colorado outshot Los Angeles 12-4 in the period.
"When you play a period like that and they get one late, it's frustrating and you go back into the dressing room and you think, 'Holy smokes, what do we have to do to get one here?'" Jost said. "Our team stuck with it. Once we got one, the floodgates started to open and we just kept pouring it on. A great job by our team to stick with it."
Jost tied it 1-1 at 9:46 of the second period with a shot through a screen from above the left hash marks. He then made it 2-1 at 11:38 when he drove to the net to redirect Conor Timmins' centering pass from the right point.
Jost was the center on the top line with Gabriel Landeskog and Rantanen in the absence of Nathan MacKinnon, who missed his second straight game because of a lower-body injury.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare increased the lead to 3-1 at 14:26, jamming in a rebound after Grosenick made saves against Burakovsky and Jayson Megna.
Joonas Donskoi made it 4-1 at 16:50 when he batted the rebound of Nazem Kadri's shot inside the right post, and Burakovsky shot glove side from the high slot during a 4-on-4 at 18:58 for the 5-1 final.
"I love the way we finished the season," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "I love the way guys dug in, guys stepping into different roles, different guys chipping in every night. We won some ugly games, we won some games where we played real well. There were a lot of contributors most nights."
NOTES: The Avalanche extended their home point streak to 17 games (16-0-1), which is tied for the longest in their history. They were 14-0-1 with two ties from Jan. 20-April 6, 2003. … Rantanen has scored 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in nine games since returning from NHL COVID-19 protocol. … Burakovsky has scored 12 points (five goals, seven assists) during an eight-game point streak. … Donskoi's goal was his 17th this season, an NHL career high. … Kings forward Drake Rymsha was plus-1 in 13:16 of ice time in his NHL debut.