Okay, ESPN, enough with the oddball home game start times forced on the Seattle Kraken.
ESPN Screengrab
To accommodate ESPN’s “Frozen Frenzy,” which had 16 games on the same night involving all 32 teams, puck drop between the Colorado Avalanche and Kraken Tuesday at Climate Pledge arena came just after 5:30 pm local time. (Each of the 16 games started 15 minutes apart.)
This was after Seattle dropped its opener one week ago, 3-2 to St. Louis, in an ESPN weekday telecast starting at 1:30 pm.
The Kraken didn’t fare any better with a rush-hour start. Two goals by Colorado 4th-liner Joel Kiviranta led the visitors to a 3-2 victory. Cale Makar’s two assists give him a league-high 14 points. Jared McCann scored his franchise-best 100th goal, but Seattle couldn’t capitalize on an Avs team surrendering an NHL-worst 4.83 goals per game. As a result, the Kraken’s three-game winning streak comes to an end.
1st Period
One storyline is players not participating. For the Kraken, the only sighting of first-pairing defenseman Vince Dunn was his fan-giveaway bobblehead. Now on IR with an undisclosed injury, Dunn won’t be eligible to return until mid-November.
To that, the Avs say, “Hold our crutches.” In addition to still-suspended Valeri Nichushkin, the injured list includes Jonathan Drouin, Artturi Lehkonen, Gabriel Landeskog, and Tucker Poolman. Just-activated Devon Toews is playing his first game of the season.
That was quick: Yanni Gourde rings a shot off the left post in the first 10 seconds. Backup Avs goalie Justus Annunen, getting his second straight start, owes that post a steak dinner. Make that two dinners – two minutes later, Tye Kartye grazes the right post. Those don’t even count as SOGs, of which Seattle has seven (!) in the first four minutes, to Colorado’s none.
At the other end, Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer with a kick-save and a beauty on Nathan MacKinnon’s intended pass which snuck through. Like Joey Daccord on Saturday, Grubauer has had to stay sharp without much work.
Opponent or not, MacKinnon is a joy to watch. He’s already pick-pocketed Oliver Bjorkstrand to prevent a scoring chance, and dangled through Kraken defenders in the Colorado offensive zone.
Though the Kraken have 12 of the first 16 SOGs, doubled the Avs in shot attempts and twice hit a post, it’s the visitors who score first. Joel Kiviranta’s wicked wrister beats Grubauer – it may have deflected off a Seattle defender and definitely pinged the post – for a 1-0 lead at 18:32.
2nd Period
Apparently in attendance tonight: Mary Poppins, umbrella and all. (Posted on X by @aliciainedmonds.) I didn’t realize nannies could afford such good seats.
The Kraken have such a dominant early-period shift, it continues through a line change. When Colorado gains possession, Makar weaves through defenders, forcing Grubauer to make a glove save. For those wondering, yes, the Colorado villain of the 2022 playoff series is still being lustily booed by the CPA faithful. (But not by Ms. Poppins, who would surely recommend a spoonful of sugar instead.)
Grubauer makes two solid saves to help Seattle kill an Eeli Tolvanen interference penalty, and a third sparkler as it ends. Of note, defensemen Adam Larsson and Jamie Oleksiak played the entire two minutes of the PK.
Puck luck and Jared McCann’s silky mitts combine to tie the game for Seattle. That piece of vulcanized rubber is slippery and elusive until, somehow, it slides to McCann standing by his lonesome just outside the crease. Like a true goal scorer, McCann calmly pitchforks the puck over Annunen at 11:57 – his 100th career goal in Seattle, and fifth of the season.
Uh-oh. MacKinnon gets loose on a breakaway, but Grubauer’s pad has the answer to keep the game tied.
The Avs do grab the lead back at 14:55. It’s Kiviranta again, deflecting Makar’s shot for a 2-1 lead.
When Chandler Stephenson trips Mikko Rantanen at 19:24, this becomes a crucial penalty kill for Seattle – and they can’t. That man MacKinnon plays the puck like a yo-yo, then fires across his body past Grubauer with eight seconds left for a 3-1 Colorado lead. The Avalanche PP is connecting near an unreal 40%.
Colorado outshoots Seattle 17-5 in the middle frame, for a 22-17 lead after 40. At one point, Colorado took 10 of 11 SOGs.
3rd Period
Kraken coach Dan Bylsma mixed-and-matched forward lines to try to recapture his team’s early-game magic. The result has been two SOG in the first seven minutes.
Too much happened in the 2nd period to mention this, but after one stoppage in play, Seattle’s Grubauer held an extended conversation in his crease with Colorado’s Rantanen. The two were teammates for Grubi’s three seasons with the Avalanche. The conversation appeared amicable – it’s just the type of convo you’re more likely to see before or after a game.
Now 14 minutes played and Seattle has added just three shots since intermission. Colorado is doing something they haven’t been able to all season – play shutdown defense. The Kraken offense, 10th in the league through six games, doesn’t have any answers.
MacKinnon’s 2nd goal, into an empty net, is washed out by a Colorado offside. Grubauer leaves again when Kiviranta is called for slashing at 18:00. Operating six skaters to four, Seattle can’t crack goalie Annunen, who makes one save on Brandon Montour and two on Chandler Stephenson. Finally, though, Ryker Evans adds a too-late-to-matter power play marker with 3.5 seconds left. Avs win, 3-2.
Up Next
Seattle has a scheduled practice Wednesday and optional morning skate Thursday at Kraken Community Iceplex. Game four of the homestand takes place Thursday at the normal time of 7 pm at CPA against the red-hot Jets. Winnipeg remains the NHL’s last undefeated team, after winning 3-2 in St. Louis on Tuesday.