- Anze Kopitar wrapped up the last regular season of his storied career. The Los Angeles Kings captain wants to prolong his final playoff run for as long as...
his plans to retire, instantly becomes a postseason rallying point for the Kings. They have a tall task ahead of them against the'Playoffs,' said the 38-year-old Kopitar, a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Kings. 'I'm not going to say anything can happen, but we'll go in and we'll play hard and we'll see where that takes us.'
This will be the third postseason series between the two teams and the first in 24 years. Colorado won in seven games during both the 2002 conference quarterfinals and the 2001 conference semifinals.
It's been a record season for the Presidents' Trophy-winning Avalanche as they amassed the most points in franchise history. That broke the mark set by the 2022 team, which went on to win the Stanley Cup title. MacKinnon had a career-best 53 goals.shared the net this season and surrendered a league low in goals. They earned the William M. Jennings Trophy, which is presented to the goalies who have played a minimum of 25 games - Wedgewood suited up in 45 and Blackwood 39 - for the team with the fewest goals allowed. The other goaltender to win that honor for Colorado was Hall of Famer Patrick Roy .
said. 'The mentality of this group throughout the year, right from the start of training camp, set on a mission to be the best team.'
The Kings went 0-3 against Colorado this season and were outscored by a 13-5 margin.The Avalanche were 41-0-0 when leading after two periods. They're the first squad to have a lead after two periods on 40 or more instances and capture each one, according to team research. 'Even though we've been smart, we've been committed, we've been relentless at times, it's going to have to go to a whole new level now,' Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. 'I have faith in our guys.'
Six grueling months ago, the Avalanche and Kings opened the season against each other. The Avalanche won 4-1 in Los Angeles behind a pair of goals from
The two teams join an exclusive club by becoming the fifth pair since 2015-16 to open the regular season and the playoffs against each other, according to NHL Stats. The other pairs to do so were Montreal and Toronto ; Colorado and St. Louis ; St. Louis and Winnipeg ; and Los Angeles and San Jose . Of those teams that won the season opener only San Jose went on to win the series. It's a trend Kopitar and the Kings wouldn't mind joining.
'The intensity ramps up, everything ramps up,' Kopitar said of the postseason. 'Every mistake, every little play, magnifies now.'
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