Chicago – The colorado avalanche Became the first NHL team to clinch a playoff spot on Friday night.
This development was only a matter of time. But the way he ensured the franchise’s ninth consecutive postseason appearance was significant.
Colorado tightens grip on Western Conference with dominant performance chicago During the opening four-game trip. martin necks, brock nelson, nazam qadri And valery nichushkin scored in win 4-1 Over the lowly Blackhawks.
“I think if we keep playing like this, we won’t lose too many games,” Necas said. “Overall a strong game…just keep it going.”
Colorado (45-13-10) had dropped four of five, including a 7-2 home loss to a Pittsburgh team that was playing without. Sidney Crosby. But Avalanche coach Jared Bednar was encouraged by how the team performed in a 2-1 shootout loss to Dallas on Wednesday night and carried that same momentum to the win in Chicago — especially in the first and third periods.
With the win, the Avalanche moved four points ahead of the Stars and 10 points ahead of the minnesota wild At the top of the Western Conference. Friday was a holiday in Dallas and Minnesota.
The Avalanche clinched a playoff berth by fewer than 70 games for the third time in franchise history during an 82-game season. He achieved this feat in 67 games in 1996–97 and 69 games in 2000–01.
“It’s a good start. Yes, we’d be happy with that,” Bednar said. “We like what we’re doing right now. Obviously, there’s going to be ups and downs in the season, but I think at this point in the season, if you look at it overall, we’ve put ourselves in a good spot here. We feel good about the way we’re playing.”
It looked like Colorado would run away with the Central Division when it was 33–4–7 after a 4–0 win over Columbus on January 10. But Dallas rallied to take a 15-1-1 lead heading into Saturday’s game at Minnesota.
The high-scoring Avalanche scored a total of four goals in three games before the win over the Blackhawks. It looks like they may get some more help soon.
captain Gabriel Landeskog (lower body) and partner forward artturi lehkonen (upper body), logan o’connor (hip) and Ross Colton On his way back from (upper body) injuries. O’Connor has not played this season after undergoing surgery in June.
“They’re all on the road with us because they all have a chance to come back at some point,” Bednar said. “This is one of our biggest road trips of the year. … We could see people as early as Sunday, and some people might not meet until after the road trip. But the goal will be to try to get them all in before we go home.”
