FINAL: Colorado Avalanche 4, Seattle Kraken 1
Kraken fans; You didn’t really think it was gonna be easy did you? Avalanche fans will gear up for Game-7 on Monday night at Ball Arena in Denver.
The Climate Pledge Arena was a madhouse from the start, with Kraken fans alternating between very loud “Boooooo’s” every time Avalanche villain D-man Cale Makar touched the puck — he knocked Kraken leading goal scorer Jared McCann out of the series with a late hit in Game-4 — and “Grooooooo’s” every time Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer made a save. And Grooby made plenty of them in the first period as the Avalanche outshot the Kraken 13-9.
It’s was a fast-paced, thrilling period of playoff hockey that ended 1-1.
Kraken Goal Scorers:
1st Period
1-0 Kraken – Even Strength – Vince Dunn (1) Unassisted, 15:48
After Colorado netminder Alexandar Georgiev made a simple save and steered the puck into the left wing circle, Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson came over and shovelled the puck somewhat gently off the boards right into the wheelhouse of Dunn who unloaded on a one-timer.
— The Avalanche tied the game with :20-seconds remaining in the first period after all-world center Nathan MacKinnon flew into the Kraken zone and started a play that resulted in Mikko Rantanen scoring his 6th goal of the series on a loose rebound near the goal line.
2nd Period
— All MacKinnon, all the time. Continuing the theme from the first period, “Mac” actually won a puck battle against two Kraken players in the right wing corner of the Colorado offensive zone after falling down face first. He somehow won the puck and passed it while laying down. It led to Erik Johnson scoring with a point shot and giving the Avalanche a 2-1 lead at 7:21.
— The Av’s would extend the lead to 3-1 on the perfect execution of a slap-pass. Devon Toews from the right point to Artturi Lehkonen with the deflection in front at 16:57.
— The defending Stanley Cup champs dominated the period, out-chancing Seattle and out-shooting Seattle 27-14 through two periods.
3rd Period
— Seattle added nine more shots-on-goal in the 3rd period, four of them with the extra attacker, and they weren’t Grade-A chances. The Avalanche clogged the neutral zone and made it very tough on Seattle just to get clean D-zone break-outs. Colorado was tenacious, claimed the momentum from the 2nd period and held it.
— Lehkonen added an empty netter.
— Shots on goal wrapped up 39-23 in favor of the Avalanche. Power plays: Colorado 0-for-5, Seattle 0-for-3.
