Recap: Colorado clinches the Presidents’ Trophy & home ice

DENVER, COLORADO - APRIL 09: Nathan MacKinnon #29 of the Colorado Avalanche skates against the Calgary Flames in the first period at Ball Arena on April 9, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images The Avs had the chance to clinch the Presidents’ Trophy and earn home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs tonight against the Calgary Flames. Ultimately, Colorado came away with a 3-1 win over the Flames, earning home ice through the playoffs in what was an uglier game than most people likely bargained for.

Let’s take a look at the action from tonight! First Period Colorado would get a powerplay opportunity with less than two minutes in this period, and it would only take them six seconds on the man-advantage for the Avs to take a 1-0 lead, as Gabe Landeskog would get his 13th goal of the season off a great feed from Nathan MacKinnon. Second Period Martin Necas would make the score 2-0, as he was able to find his way through multiple Calgary defenders and waited till Dustin Wolf was down and out to shoot into an empty net.

Third Period Tyson Gross would score his first NHL goal late in the third period to make it 2-1, and not long after that, it looked like Calgary had tied the game at 2-2, but the game-tying goal was called back for being offside. Nathan MacKinnon would earn what was a hard-fought empty-net goal for the final score of 3-1, clinching the President’s Trophy for the Avs. Takeaways Colorado has officially clinched the Presidents’ Trophy with their win over Calgary tonight and will have home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.

Now, they can truly coast and rest players, if they choose to, through the rest of the regular season, which is not a lot of time, as they only have four games remaining in the season, but that time to potentially rest players is valuable, nonetheless. For tonight’s game, this was very much a “they don’t ask how, just how many” type game, especially when it came to the last two minutes of the third period, where it looked like Calgary had tied the game before one goal was called back. At this point in the season, though, you really don’t care how ugly the win was.