Schedule set for Colorado Avalanche's opening playoff series, opponent will be Seattle Kraken

The dates of the first two games of the Colorado Avalanche's opening playoff series have been released. They will play at Ball Arena on Tuesday for Game 1 and then again on Thursday for Game 2.

Their opponent will be the Seattle Kraken after a win in Nashville on Friday night cemented Colorado at the top of the Central Division. If they had lost, they would have played the Minnesota Wild.

Here are the times and dates for the series:

Tue., April 18: Kraken at Avalanche, 8 p.m.
Thu., April 20: Kraken at Avalanche, 7:30 p.m.
Sat., April 22: Avalanche at Kraken. 8 p.m.
Mon., April 24: Avalanche at Kraken, 8 p.m.
Wed., April 26 (if necessary): Kraken at Avalanche
Fri., April 28 (if necessary): Avalanche at Kraken
Sun., April 30 (if necessary): Kraken at Avalanche

The Avs enter the NHL Playoffs as defending Stanley Cup Champions, and defenseman Erik Johnson says they are satisfied with their success this season despite struggling with a number of injuries on their roster during the regular season.

"That's the price you pay when you win the Cup sometimes. It's kind of our tax, maybe. I think anyone would take that tradeoff for the Cup last year. I mean, we played until the end of June and only had really 2 months before camp. So to be where we are says a lot about the team and probably shows how many more points we would have had if we had a full roster all year," Johnson said.

"So we can still accomplish the goal that we set out to at the start of the regular season."

The Avalanche learned on Thursday that they'll be without their captain in the postseason. Gabriel Landeskog announced in a news conference his recovery from his knee injury hasn't gone well enough for him to return to the ice. 

If the Avs had lost on Friday night in regulation, in overtime or in a shootout, the Dallas Stars would have wound up winning the Central Division title.