Avalanche blank Kraken, set franchise record for points

Scott Wedgewood made 22 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, Parker Kelly and Nick Blankenburg each scored a goal and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Seattle Kraken 2-0 in Denver on Thursday night.

Valeri Nichushkin had two assists for Colorado (55-16-11, 121 points), which set the franchise record for points. The 55 victories are one fewer than the 2021-22 team, which had 119 points on the way to winning the Stanley Cup.

The shutout was the 12th of Wedgewood's career. His 2.07 goals-against average led the NHL.

Victor Ostman turned away 33 shots for Seattle (34-37-11, 79 points), which lost its third in a row and finished the season with 13 losses in its last 16 games.

Colorado's opponent in the first round was determined during the second period when Anaheim beat Nashville. That locked in the Los Angeles Kings as the second wild card and a playoff matchup with the Avalanche for the first time since 2002.

Game 1 is Sunday afternoon in Denver.

Colorado rested several players ahead of the postseason. Nathan MacKinnon, Devon Toews and Martin Necas were healthy scratches, while Nazem Kadri (finger), Gabriel Landeskog (lower body) Josh Manson (upper body) were also out of the lineup.

MacKinnon finished with an NHL-best 53 goals in 80 games and was third overall in scoring with 127 points. He joins Milan Hejduk as the only players in franchise history to win the Rocket Richard Trophy.

Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar, sporting a black eye, was back behind the bench after missing the two-game road trip to Edmonton and Calgary. Bednar suffered facial fractures and a corneal abrasion when he was struck on the right cheek by a puck against Vegas on Saturday.

Blankenburg had a goal in the first period erased when the Kraken successfully challenged the play was offside but his goal at 17:38 of the second stuck and gave Colorado a 1-0 lead.

Kelly scored his 21st of the season at 12:19 of the third.

--Field Level Media