The Need to Knows:
The Time: 6:00pm PT
The Place: Ball Arena, Denver Colorado
Place to Watch: ROOT-Northwest
Place to Listen: KJR-93.3 and its affiliates.
Know Your Enemy:
The defending Stanley Cup champions are 2-1-1, but have lost some pieces from last season’s roster, most relevant (to this matchup) being André Burakovsky, who signed with Seattle as a free agent this summer.
The Avalanche come into this game missing captain Gabriel Landeskog, who will miss the next three months after undergoing knee surgery. They’ll will also possibly be without star defenseman Devon Toews, who is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.
Game Preview:
The Avalanche are coming off an overtime loss after erasing a two-goal deficit at home.
The Kraken are coming off an overtime loss after erasing a two-goal deficit at home.
While other facets of the game have struggled, the Avalanche power play has been very good this year and are #1 in the NHL in power play goals scored (7) and #1 in percentage (53.8%).
While other facets of the game have struggled, the Kraken power play has been very good this year and are #2 in the NHL in power play goals scored (6) and #6 in percentage (31.6%).
The Avalanche have a dynamic, exciting, franchise cornerstone center in Nathan MacKinnon.
The Kraken have a dynamic, exciting, franchise cornerstone center in Matty Beniers.
The Avalanche have a superstar defenseman in Cale Makar, whose talent is unprecedented and skates like he’s hovering.
The Kraken have…nobody like that.
There’s only so far I can take this exercise. Colorado and Seattle are at different points in their franchise trajectories right now. The Avalanche are squarely in the middle of their championship window. The Kraken are in the middle of a rebuild.
This is a very tough matchup for Seattle and all the small things matter. The Kraken will need to limit the mistakes, not commit dumb turnovers, and have no defensive lapses. If they can do that and turn in an adequate goaltending performance, they can steal a win.
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