Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced to help the Avalanche defeat the Calgary Flames 3-1 at Ball Arena on Tuesday to clinch the Presidents' Trophy. Gabriel Landeskog Martin Necas each scored a goal for Colorado, while MacKinnon set a new career high in goals and posted a pair of assists.

The Avalanche have clinched the Presidents' Trophy with a 3-1 win over the Flames, securing the No. 1 regular-season seed.

The Seattle Kraken host the Calgary Flames after the Kraken defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 in a shootout.

DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche have once again positioned themselves atop the NHL hierarchy, securing the Presidents’ Trophy with a composed and clinical 3–1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night at Ball Arena.

Here's why the Avalanche will be without Nazem Kadri against the Flames and what it means with the playoffs just around the corner.

Calgary spent much of the year struggling to generate consistent scoring. Early in the season, they were averaging just 2.17 goals per game—worse than even a slumping New York Rangers squad that had its own issues finishing chances. The Flames have since improved marginally to 2.57 goals per game, but that still ranks near the bottom of the league.

The Calgary Flames would more than likely prefer to forget what happened the last time they met the Colorado Avalanche. The 9-2 final score painted the picture of a blowout loss, but a closer look reveals that the Avalanche scored five goals in the first five minutes of the game, so just calling it a blowout kind of comes up short.

DENVER -- Nathan MacKinnon scored his 52nd goal of the season and had two assists, and the Colorado Avalanche clinched the Presidents’ Trophy with a 3-1 win against the Calgary Flames at Ball Arena on Thursday.

The Calgary Flames aren't likely to have a 50-point scorer this season, which would set a feat the NHL hasn't seen since the 2014-15 campaign.

The Avs beat the Flames 3-1 on Thursday at Ball Arena, securing the Presidents’ Trophy and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs. MacKenzie Blackwood stopped 29 shots before finally yielding a goal late, while Gabriel Landeskog, Martin Necas and Nathan MacKinnon all lit the lamp in a game that was not as close as the score indicated.

Last Monday, the Calgary Flames visited the Colorado Avalanche and it went very, very poorly. The Flames were down 5-0 after the first period and lost 9-2.