In spite of their franchise-record road success, the Avalanche maintained throughout the final weeks of the regular season that playoff home ice was a worthwhile goal to chase.
Nathan MacKinnon understood that the Avs probably wouldn’t catch Vegas in the conference, but “home ice in our division at least is big for us,” he told The Post.
The Avalanche achieved their goal Friday, with MacKinnon playing the starring role once again with a hat trick in a 4-3 win over the Predators in Nashville to clinch the Central Division title for the second consecutive year. Colorado (51-24-7) will face the Seattle Kraken in the first round of the playoffs, with Games 1 and 2 scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday at Ball Arena. Seattle qualified as the first wild card in the Western Conference, finishing fourth in the Pacific.
