Kraken’s winning streak halted at home by Avalanche

Published 3:00 pm Wednesday, October 23, 2024

SEATTLE — Many of the main characters of Seattle’s only playoff series win to date were heavily involved again as the Kraken and Avalanche went at it Tuesday night at Climate Pledge Arena. Justus Annunen made the necessary stops to give Colorado a 3-2 victory.

On the Kraken side, Jared McCann got the worst deal in the 2023 first-round series. He was knocked from the series due to a late, confusingly violent hit from elite Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar, who isn’t known for those kinds of slips. Makar said he couldn’t hear the whistle blowing play dead, even though the puck was nowhere in view so the hit still wouldn’t have been legal. Makar was suspended one game.

During the second period Tuesday with his team trailing 1-0, McCann planted himself in front of Avalanche goaltender Annunen. When a turnover spat backward to McCann, the Seattle winger never turned to face the net. He faked a forehand shot and shoveled the puck backward past Annunen’s leg.

It was McCann’s 100th goal as a member of the Kraken (4-3). Other than newly named captain Jordan Eberle, whose five in seven games this season put him at 63, no one else in the franchise’s short history has half that.

McCann didn’t get to fully savor the moment against this familiar foe.

“Obviously it would have been a lot nicer with a win,” McCann said later.

He was a supporting player during other NHL stops, but Seattle is reliant on his many and varied contributions.

“Being here with this organization has meant a lot to me and to my family — getting an opportunity to stay somewhere and getting an opportunity to play,” McCann said.

Makar, meanwhile, was still loudly booed by the Climate Pledge Arena crowd each time the puck was on his stick during the nationally televised game. Kraken fans relented as soon as the play moved on.

McCann’s strike was sandwiched by goals from Colorado’s Joel Kiviranta, who now has three in two games for an Avalanche team starting to stir after dropping their first four games of the season in regulation.

Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer stopped a breakaway from reigning league MVP Nathan MacKinnon to keep the game tied a little longer after McCann scored. But MacKinnon found a way, as he usually does, scoring a power-play goal with eight seconds left before the second intermission.

“It was a tough pill to swallow,” McCann said. “I thought we played well at the beginning here and we’ve just got to find a full 60 consistent minutes.”

The Kraken took the first eight shots of the game on Annunen in what Seattle coach Dan Bylsma called perhaps their best first period so far, even though they weren’t rewarded. That fast start included a 2-on-1 that ended in Kraken forward Yanni Gourde sending a shot off the goalpost on the very first shift.

From there, Annunen weaponized the inelegant solution, never looking terribly comfortable in making 25 stops.

Grubauer also made 25 saves in his team’s losing effort. After the Avalanche went ahead, he kept it from getting any worse on a second-period Colorado power play. He absorbed a blast from Makar. Then he blocked a point-blank chance from Colorado’s leading goal-scorer and previous hottest player, Ross Colton. A bouncing puck flipped up on Grubauer and he fell backward, keeping his eyes on it, batting it between his glove and stick like an amateur juggler to the collective horror of Climate Pledge Arena.

“We probably gave up the most chances tonight in any game we’ve played to this point,” Bylsma said. “(Grubauer) made a breakaway save, made a couple east-west saves that were really big for us. Gave us a chance.

“We need to come up with a little more run support for Grubi.”

Notable: Colorado’s Kiviranta scored twice and Annunen made 25 saves to end Seattle’s three-game win streak and drop the home team to 4-3 on the season.

The Kraken played a second straight game without defenseman Vince Dunn, which is a scenario they’ll have to get used to. Dunn, Seattle’s power-play backbone, was put on long-term injured reserve on Monday afternoon with an unspecified injury toward the middle of his body, as described by coach Bylsma.

There’s someone to cover for him somewhat in the meantime. The front office went out and paid handsomely for another offensive defenseman this summer in Brandon Montour, who is averaging nearly 24 minutes per night in his first season in Seattle and drawing strong reviews.

Quotable: “Obviously they have skilled guys. I think we did a pretty good job overall, managing it … They’re gonna get their chances, and they scored there, but overall, our PK has been doing pretty well.” — Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak on Seattle’s penalty kill, which was 2 of 3 against Colorado

Goal of the game: Avalanche center MacKinnon, who took league MVP honors this summer, thought better of a power-play shot from the left faceoff dot and cut across the middle, beating Kraken goalie and former teammate Grubauer to make it 3-1 Colorado with eight seconds left in the second period. That turned out to be the winner.

Player of the game: Kiviranta (two goals, Colorado’s only penalty)

On tap: Seattle hosts the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday. The Kraken sit 2-1 during the current five-game homestand.

The box score can be found here.