Mikko Rantanen had 105 points in the regular season. He finished with two assists as Colorado beat Nashville 4–3. Henri Jokiharju was shaken in his last regular season game.
Now all teams in the NHL have played their 82 regular season games. The last pairings out were Colorado vs. Nashville and Columbus vs. Buffalo.
For the reigning champions Colorado, the division victory was in the pot when the team took to the ice against Nashville. And the team met that challenge.
Colorado had a 3-1 lead after the first period, but as the game drew to a close, the score was 3-3. But Nathan MacKinnon wanted the last word – he completed his hat-trick when he fired in the 4-3 winner behind Kevin Lankinen.
– I felt that the match was over when I scored my third goal. It feels like the division win means extra this season, we’ve been fighting to get here, MacKinnon told AltitudeTV.
Mikko Rantanen played up to two of MacKinnon’s hits and landed a total of 55+50=105 points this season. He took a superior victory in the Finns’ scoring in the regular season.
The Finns’ score:
Open
Colorado managed the division victory with a point to spare over the runner-up Dallas Stars.
– The team has put heart and soul into the regular season. The longer the season went on and regardless of the setbacks we faced, we got stronger all the time. We have different guys who step up at different times and our leaders are outstanding.
– Reaching our goal of winning the division is a feather in our cap. There’s no doubt we’re feeling very good right now, Colorado coach Jared Bednar told the assembled press.
Colorado’s first place finish in the division means the team will face the Seattle Kraken in the first round of the playoffs. For division runner-up Dallas, there will be playoff games against the Minnesota Wild.
– Seattle is a team that works hard. We’ve struggled against them this season so we’ll have to be on top to beat them,” said MacKinnon.
First round playoff pairings:
East:
Boston Bruins–Florida Panthers
Carolina Hurricanes–New York Islanders
New Jersey Devils–New York Rangers
Toronto Maple Leafs–Tampa Bay Lightning
West:
Vegas Golden Knights–Winnipeg Jets
Colorado Avalanche–Seattle Kraken
Edmonton Oilers–Los Angeles Kings
Dallas Stars–Minnesota Wild
The playoffs begin on the night of Tuesday Finnish time
Buffalo ended the season with a 5–2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Henri Jokiharju suffered an injury early in the match and played just under three minutes.
According to the club, it is an injury to the lower part of the body, but no more precise details are available.
Results:
Nashville–Colorado 3–4
NSH: Juuso Pärssinen 0+0, -3, 13.24
NSH: Kevin Lankinen 30/34 räddningar
COL: Artturi Lehkonen 0+0, +/-0, 18.22
COL: Mikko Rantanen 0+2, +3, 19.02
Columbus–Buffalo 2–5
CBJ: Joona Luoto 0+0, -3, 1
CBJ: Mikael Pyyhtia 0+0, -2, 15.07
BUF: Henri Jokihar 0+0, -1, 2.43
Image source: Viaplay
