SEATTLE — It took six video games of those playoffs for the Colorado Avalanche to lastly look the a part of a defending Stanley Cup champion.

Colorado’s reward? A visit again dwelling for Game 7 and the prospect to dispatch the pesky Seattle Kraken.

Mikko Rantanen scored his seventh aim of the playoffs, Artturi Lehkonen scored twice, together with an empty-net aim within the closing seconds, and the Avalanche beat the Kraken 4-1 on Friday evening of their first-round playoff collection.

Rantanen scored within the last seconds of the primary interval, tying it at 1 after Seattle posted the primary aim but once more. The Avalanche then dominated the ultimate two intervals, flashing a few of what made them Stanley Cup champs a season in the past.

“I don’t think we’ve had a full 60 (minutes) yet, a full, good 60 and today we did. We played three good periods, even though they scored the first goal again, but we (stuck) with it and played to our identity,” Rantanen mentioned.

Erik Johnson scored his first of the playoffs on a deflected shot 7:21 into the second. Lehkonen redirected Devon Toews’ slap move at 16:57 to provide Colorado a 3-1 lead. Toews had two assists, as did Cale Makar after being suspended for Game 5.

PHOTOS: Defending champ Avs power Game 7 with 4-1 win over Kraken

“We reiterated it after the game. Any time we’ve had adversity, we’ve said we’re going to take it one step at a time and go right at it,” Makar mentioned. “Huge character win for us tonight, hopefully gave a lot of guys confidence in terms of what we’re able to do out there.”

Game 7 might be Sunday in Denver. It’s the primary Game 7 in franchise historical past for Seattle and the primary for the Avalanche because the second spherical of the 2020 playoffs within the bubble, when Colorado misplaced to Dallas.

“It’s a new opportunity for this group and we’ve been a good road team all year. That’s been a strength of this team,” Seattle’s Jordan Eberle mentioned. “We’ve got nothing to lose.”

Vince Dunn grew to become the 14th totally different participant to attain a aim for Seattle this postseason when he slipped a slap shot previous Colorado goalie Alexandar Georgiev at 15:48 of the primary. Dunn was second in factors for Seattle throughout the common season however had been held with no level till scoring his third profession playoff aim.

But Georgiev’s evening was principally quiet, though he made massive stops on Oliver Bjorkstrand and Jaden Schwartz within the last minutes. Georgiev completed with 22 saves.

“They deserved tonight’s win. They played well. They were a little bit better than we were and we couldn’t push our way back into the game,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol mentioned.

Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer was peppered all evening and just some spectacular saves stored the rating from getting out of hand. Grubauer completed with 35 stops.

Colorado performed in its first elimination recreation since Game 6 of the 2021 convention semifinals, when the Avs have been eradicated by Vegas. One of essentially the most spectacular components of Colorado’s run to the Stanley Cup final 12 months was its skill to manage each collection.

But Seattle’s win in Game 5 put Colorado in a precarious place and the Avs responded with their most full efficiency of the collection.

“We just wanted to play our game, we played our best game of the series and were rewarded for it,” Johnson mentioned. “And they’re a very good team, they really put us on our heels at times. But it felt good to play our game and get rewarded for it.”

IN FRONT

Seattle grew to become the primary workforce to take the lead in every of its first six playoff video games in franchise historical past. The 1918 Toronto Arenas took the lead of their first 5 playoff video games. Seattle matched that in Game 5 and surpassed it in Game 6.

Colorado appeared to attain the opening aim on a shot from Bowen Byrum, however the aim was overturned after Seattle efficiently challenged for offside.

WORTH NOTING

Seattle performed with out main scorer Jared McCann for the second straight recreation. McCann was harm on a test from Makar in Game 4 that led to his suspension. … Seattle F Matty Beniers was referred to as for simply the second penalty of his profession on a tripping name within the second interval.

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