The Colorado Avalanche appeared to be the defending Stanley Cup winner heading into Game 6 of the playoffs against the Seattle Kraken. The Avalanche didn’t start playing with the kind of form that earned them the title the previous season until six games. They received a chance to defeat the troublesome Seattle Kraken in Game 7 at home in Denver as compensation for their outstanding performance.
The Avalanche defeated the Kraken 4-1 in their first-round playoff series with to Mikko Rantanen’s ninth goal of the postseason, two goals from Artturi Lehkonen, and an empty-net goal in the dying seconds.
After Seattle once more scored the opening goal, Rantanen scored in the final seconds of the first period to tie the game at one. However, the Avalanche dominated the final two periods and displayed some of the traits that helped them win the Stanley Cup the season before.
“Today we had a complete, decent 60 (minutes), which I don’t think we’ve had yet. Even though they scored the opening goal once more, we played three strong periods despite that, according to Rantanen.
At 7:21 of the second quarter, Erik Johnson scored his first playoff goal on a deflected shot. At 16:57, Lehkonen redirected Devon Toews’ slap pass to put Colorado ahead 3-1. Both Toews and Cale Makar, who served a Game 5 suspension, got two assists.
“We reaffirmed it following the match. Every time we’ve faced difficulty, we’ve vowed to tackle it head-on, one step at a time, Makar said. “Huge character win for us tonight, hopefully gave a lot of guys confidence in terms of what we’re capable of doing out there.”
The final game of the series will be played on Sunday in Denver. It will be the first Game 7 for Seattle and the Avalanche since Colorado’s second-round playoff loss to Dallas in 2020.
“It’s a new opportunity for this group, and we’ve been a good road team all year,” Seattle’s Jordan Eberle said. This team has excelled in that area. There is nothing left to lose.
At 15:48 in the first period, Vince Dunn snuck a slap shot past Colorado goalie Alexandar Georgiev to become the 14th different player to score for Seattle this postseason. Despite being Seattle’s second-leading scorer during the regular season, Dunn had gone the entire postseason without recording a point.
However, despite making significant stops on Oliver Bjorkstrand and Jaden Schwartz in the closing seconds, Georgiev’s night was largely quiet. Georgiev made 22 saves in total.
“They merited winning tonight. They performed well. We couldn’t force our way back into the game because they were a little bit stronger than we were, according to Seattle coach Dave Hakstol.
Philipp Grubauer, the goalie for Seattle, took a lot of shots all night, and only some incredible stops prevented an out-of-control score. Grubauer had 35 stops in the end.
Since the Avs’ elimination by Vegas in Game 6 of the conference semifinals in 2021, Colorado participated in its first elimination game. Colorado’s ability to dominate every series throughout its journey to the Stanley Cup last season was one of its most astounding aspects.
Colorado was in a perilous situation as a result of Seattle’s victory in Game 5, but the Avs replied with their most comprehensive game of the series.