DENVER (KDVR) — The Colorado Avalanche were the best team in the NHL for the 2025-26 regular season and have secured the President’s Trophy, as well as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for the playoffs.

The Avs were able to secure their NHL-best position before the 82nd and final game of the season, and with one game left to go for many teams, the playoff picture isn’t technically cemented yet, but the odds are heavily in favor of the Avalanche playing a certain team — so, who is it?

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The Utah Mammoth and the Los Angeles Kings secured their places as Wild Card teams, but the Kings will be looking to move up one spot in the playoff race to avoid a first-round date with the Avs, who are the Stanley Cup favorites.

In the final game of the season, the Kings are looking to leapfrog the Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers — here’s how they can do so.

If the Kings, who are at 90 points, can win their final game, they need the Oilers, 91 points, to lose in regulation and the Ducks, 90 points, to lose in regulation or overtime for them to move ahead in the standings.

The Kings are depending on total points to overtake the other two teams, which both own the tiebreaker over the Kings if point totals end up tied.

Avalanche versus Kings

It appears most likely that the Avalanche and the Kings are destined to meet, which is good news for Avs fans, as the Avalanche have dominated the Kings this year.

The last time the Avalanche played the Kings in the playoffs was the 2001 Western Conference semifinals, when the Avalanche won the series 4-3 before moving on to win the Stanley Cup further down the road — hopefully history repeats itself.

It wasn’t too long ago that the Kings were the cream of the crop in the NHL, winning the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014, but since then, they have not returned to the Promised Land. This is the fifth year in a row the team has made the playoffs, and they have made it well known that they want to send off captain Anze Kopitar with one more Stanley Cup before he calls it quits on his career.

As far as this season goes, the Avs have been dominant over the Kings, sweeping the three-game series:

Oct. 7, 2025 — Crypto.com Arena: 4-1

Dec. 29, 2025 — Ball Arena: 5-2

March 2, 2026 — Crypto.com Arena: 4-2

If you take a look at the last 20 games between the teams, it’s more of the same; the Avalanche holds a 16-4 record over the Kings.

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