The Colorado Avalanche finished first in the Central Division, earning 109 points. The Seattle Kraken earned 100 points to finish as the Western Conference's first wild card for their first playoff appearance. This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams. This series also marked the first appearance of a team representing Seattle in the Stanley Cup playoffs in ninety-nine years. The most recent team to represent Seattle before this was the Seattle Metropolitans who lost the PCHA Final in 1924. Seattle won two of the three games in this year's regular season series.