The Avalanche advanced by defeating the Los Angeles Kings 5-1 in Game 4 at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The Avalanche, the No. 1 seed in the West, won the Presidents’ Trophy and will have home-ice advantage against the Wild, the No. 3 seed in the Central Division.<\/p>\n
Minnesota advanced by defeating the Dallas Stars 5-2 in Game 6 on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I mean, they’re the best team in the League,\u201d Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes said of the Avalanche. \u201cIt’s going to be a really hard series. They’ve got some ultra-competitive guys too. I just think it’s a great challenge for us and I’m really looking forward to it.”<\/p>\n
Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon<\/a> (two goals, two assists), who topped the League during the regular season with 53 goals, and forwards Artturi Lehkonen<\/a> (two goals, two assists) and Gabriel Landeskog<\/a> (two goals, two assists) led Colorado in the first round with four points each.\u00a0Defenseman Devon Toews<\/a> had a goal and two assists, and defenseman Cale Makar<\/a> scored two goals.<\/p>\n Scott Wedgewood<\/a> went 4-0, allowing five goals on 101 shots ( 1.21 goals-against average, .950 save percentage).<\/p>\n The Avalanche were 2-1-1 against the Wild in the regular season.\u00a0MacKinnon had seven points (four goals, three assists), and Landeskog and Makar each had one goal and three assists. Necas scored three goals.<\/p>\n “You have to beat the best to get there,\u201d Minnesota captain Jared Spurgeon said. \u201cFor us, it seems to be that we’re playing the top two teams right away, but every team that is in this situation is a good team and in there for a reason.”<\/p>\n Wedgewood was 1-0-1 with a 1.87 GAA and .945 save percentage. Mackenzie Blackwood<\/a>\u00a0was 1-1-0 with a 2.05 GAA and .937 save percentage.<\/p>\n Forwards Kirill Kaprizov<\/a>\u00a0(two goals, seven assists) and Matt Boldy<\/a> (six goals, three assists) led the Wild in the first round with nine points each. Hughes had eight points (two goals, six assists), and forward Joel Eriksson Ek<\/a>\u00a0and defenseman Brock Faber<\/a>\u00a0scored three goals each.<\/p>\n Jesper Wallstedt<\/a> started all six games for Minnesota in the series, going 4-2 with a 2.04 GAA and .924 save percentage.<\/p>\n Kaprizov had six points (three goals, three assists) against the Avalanche, and Boldy had four points (two goals, two assists). Eriksson Ek (two goals, one assist) and forward Ryan Hartman<\/a> (one goal, two assists) each had three points.<\/p>\n