Kraken beat Avalanche in OT, even playoff series 2-2

By Geoff Baker / The Seattle Times

SEATTLE — The emotional charge of seeing their top scorer felled by a forearmed shot behind the action from their opponent’s star defenseman seemed to catapult the already surging Seattle Kraken to an entirely different level of play.

Jared McCann lying on the Climate Pledge Arena ice for several minutes Monday night after a shove and head slam off the glass by Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar provoked an aggressive anger rarely seen in the Kraken as they nearly ran the visiting Colorado Avalanche out of the rink. Then, after the defending Stanley Cup champions rallied to force overtime, Jordan Eberle provided a signature franchise moment and 3-2 sudden-death victory that sent the crowd into an unprecedented frenzy and evened a series that appeared to be slipping away from the home side.

“We’ve been kind of the underdog since day one, and we’re just trying to fight back in this series,” Eberle said after his power-play winner three minutes into the extra session knotted this best-of-seven, opening-round series 2-2 with Game 5 scheduled for Wednesday night in Denver.

McCann has already been ruled out for Wednesday and probably longer. The first-period hit by Makar led to a minor penalty and the first of two Kraken power-play goals, and it lingered over the rest of a fierce, intensely played contest in which McCann’s squad set a franchise record with 51 hits in regulation.

“You lose a big piece of your team, and that obviously hurt us,” Eberle said of the Kraken’s 40-goal scorer. “But I think the identity of this group that we have over here — it’s been our depth. And we’ve had guys step in all year long.”

With the Kraken on the early overtime power play, Eberle slid a pass to Jaden Schwartz, whose shot attempt was blocked. But the puck came back to Eberle, who wristed it behind Alexandar Georgiev to send his elated Kraken teammates pouring off the bench in celebration.

The Kraken appeared in firm command of this one early, leading by two on a pair of first-period goals by Will Borgen and then a power-play strike by Daniel Sprong after Makar’s penalty for interference on his McCann hit just as the puck was cleared over the glass and out of play. But a pair of goals by Mikko Rantanen the final six minutes of the middle period — giving him five for the series — enabled Colorado to come from behind for the third consecutive contest and eventually force the overtime.

McCann didn’t return after being helped off, and Makar — who was initially assessed a five-minute major penalty that was quickly downgraded to the minor — was roundly booed by the crowd of 17,151 when he touched the puck the rest of the game.

Kraken coach Dave Hakstol didn’t mince words postgame, terming Makar’s hit “late” and suggesting a fan in the stands was already catching the puck cleared out of play when McCann was slammed into the glass.

“It goes immediately out of play and straight up into the netting,” Hakstol said. “And … I believe the puck is being caught by a fan as [McCann] is being run into the end wall. So a late hit. Really late. No puck in play. And like I said, our 40-goal scorer not available for the rest of the game. And like I said, not going to be available going forward here.”

Hakstol said the referee explained the puck was still “in play at the battle” when McCann was hit, and so it was a two-minute infraction and not the five initially decided upon after consultation with off-ice officials in a remote review booth.

“I disagreed with that, obviously, as I assessed it and looked at it live, and for sure looking at it after on video,” Hakstol said. “Obviously, I disagree with that assessment whether that’s by the refs or by [the NHL review room in] Toronto. That’s not an accurate description of the play.”

Hakstol was pleased with how his team “stayed with it” and maintained its “poise and presence” after the hit, even while ratcheting up the physical intensity.

As for any carry-over of that intensity the rest of the way, Hakstol added: “Well, it’s the playoffs. You get into the meat of the series, you get into the middle part of a series here, that intensity continues to rise.”

Schwartz appeared to snap the 2-2 tie and put the Kraken ahead with nine minutes to go in regulation, with the puck clearly crossing the line off a goal-mouth scramble. But after video review, it was ruled the whistle had gone before the puck crossed the line.

Schwartz then got in alone early in overtime but was tripped from behind by Josh Manson — leading to the decisive power play.

“I was actually in a pretty good spot, and I think one of their players had a big block,” Schwartz said of Eberle’s initial slot feed to him on the play leading to the winning goal. “And then Eberle had a good, quick stick. A good reaction. It happened fast. I can’t remember really [after] that, but it was obviously really exciting.”

For the fourth consecutive game, the Kraken came out flying and took an early lead as Borgen fired a slap shot behind Georgiev just under four minutes into the contest. They’d taken a physical game to the Avalanche early on, outshooting them 11-2 before the game was even seven minutes old.

But that fiery play was nothing compared with what transpired after McCann was stopped on a breakaway by Georgiev. As McCann skated to the corner with the puck headed out of play, Makar, who was right beside him, gave him a forearm shove to his upper body that sent McCann into the glass — with his head the first point of contact — and crumpling to the ice.

“It was obviously late,” Schwartz said of the hit. “It’s tough when you see a guy go down and when he’s injured. You obviously never want to see that. I felt like the puck might have been out of play for two or three seconds before it happened, so it was a tough play.”

And play got tougher all around immediately after as the Kraken started hitting everything that moved. Schwartz expects that intensity level to stay high as the series continues.

“I think as the series goes on and you see these guys every second day and you’re matched up against the same guys, it’s physical, it’s hard,” Schwartz said. “The more you play each other, the more you don’t like the other team, and the more intense the battles get. So I think that’s usually the case as the series goes on, and when you see a guy go down like that as a teammate it’s frustrating, and you want to do what you can for him.”