{"id":556268,"date":"2026-04-19T20:38:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T20:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/556268\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T20:38:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T20:38:06","slug":"avalanche-beat-kraken-complete-franchise-best-regular-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/556268\/","title":{"rendered":"Avalanche beat Kraken, complete franchise-best regular season"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first time in five years, the Edmonton Oilers will not play the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n

But Brett Kulak will<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the Colorado Avalanche was finishing off a record-breaking regular season Thursday night with a 2-0 victory against the Seattle Kraken at Ball Arena, the Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers both won their final contests as well. That chain of events means the Avs will face the Kings in the opening round.<\/p>\n

It also means Kulak will face them for a fifth consecutive year. Game 1 is Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Ball Arena<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s pretty crazy,\u201d Kulak said. \u201cThey had a little bit different-looking teams each year, and they competed hard. I know there were multiple times when we were down in the series. They had us on the ropes a few times. That\u2019s just how the playoffs work sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kings have not won a playoff series since lifting the Stanley Cup in 2014. Edmonton has knocked them out in the first round four years running, though Los Angeles did have a lead in three of the four series.<\/p>\n

\"DENVER,DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 16: Scott Wedgewood #41 of the Colorado Avalanche tends goal against the Settle Kraken in the first period at Ball Arena on April 16, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Scott Wedgewood made 22 saves Thursday night against the Kraken and pitched his fourth shutout of the season. He and Mackenzie Blackwood secured the William Jennings Trophy as the Avs allowed the fewest goals in the league<\/a> \u2014 25 fewer than the Dallas Stars.<\/p>\n

Wedgewood became the first goalie in franchise history to lead the NHL in both goals-against average (2.02) and save percentage (.921). Patrick Roy led the league in GAA in 2001-02, but no Avs\/Nordiques netminder had finished first in save percentage.<\/p>\n

The Avs clinched the Presidents\u2019 Trophy as the regular-season NHL champions a week ago, but the win against Seattle established a new franchise record with 121 points \u2014 two more than 2021-22 club.<\/p>\n

\u201cA solid, solid season,\u201d Avs coach Jared Bednar said. \u201cConsistent, not too many lulls where we didn\u2019t play very close to the we could play. \u2026 I thought it was a focused group from start to finish. And now the fun stuff starts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wedgewood was one of the best stories of the regular season for the Avs, but so too was Parker Kelly. He added another goal Thursday night, stretching his career-best total to 21 to go along with 35 points. Kelly, who earned a four-year, $6.8 million contract extension in July that runs through 2030 after one season with the club, had more goals this season than he had points in any of his first three NHL seasons.<\/p>\n

A host of regulars did not play for the Avs against Seattle, but Bednar said everyone on the active roster will be available Sunday when the Kings come to town. Nick Blankenburg, who will likely slide back to No. 7 on the defensive depth chart, had the first goal against the Kraken \u2014 his second in four games. He also had another disallowed by an offsides challenge.<\/p>\n

While the Avs raced to a historic 31-2-7 start, there were some mixed results in the second half of the season. Colorado was still able to eventually cruise to a division title, top seed in the Western Conference and home-ice advantage throughout the postseason, but the Stars did narrow the gap shortly after the Olympic break.<\/p>\n

But, then the Avs finished the campaign with an 11-3-1 run and left no doubt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy with our finish,\u201d Bednar said. \u201cGuys finished strong. I\u2019m happy with where our team\u2019s at going into this. Get them rest here, get them up to speed on L.A. and turn them loose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time in five years, the Edmonton Oilers will not play the Los Angeles Kings in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[193,1466,144,5,1117,4188,1180,1123,1262,4,6295,2905,2565,2686,234,5318,43,14,104,2071],"class_list":{"0":"post-556268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-seattle-kraken","8":"tag-avalanche","9":"tag-ball-arena","10":"tag-colorado-avalanche","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-jared-bednar","13":"tag-kraken","14":"tag-latest-headlines","15":"tag-mackenzie-blackwood","16":"tag-more-avalanche-news","17":"tag-nhl","18":"tag-parker-kelly","19":"tag-patrick-roy","20":"tag-scott-wedgewood","21":"tag-seattle","22":"tag-seattle-kraken","23":"tag-seattlekraken","24":"tag-sports","25":"tag-stanley-cup","26":"tag-stanley-cup-playoffs","27":"tag-western-conference"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116433303065939371","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}