*Photo from The Athletic*
Seattle wins series 4-3
More history is being made in the Pacific Northwest. Yanni Gourde had two assists, Oliver Bjorkstrand had two goals, and the Seattle Kraken defeated the Colorado Avalanche with a 2-1 victory on Sunday night in Denver.
The win gives the Kraken the series victory, becoming the first expansion team to knock out the defending champions in their first playoff series. 4 different players registered a point for the Kraken, with both Bjorkstrand and Gourde factoring in on both goals.
Bjorkstrand said of the series win that "I think it's huge for us, for the team, and our confidence as a group, bouncing back from last year, and then obviously for the city of Seattle. You feel the excitement there and how much they want to back us up. So yeah, it's fun being a part of."
After a scoreless first period, Bjorkstrand kicked off the scoring in the second. He gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead with his first goal of the series, assisted by Gourde and Adam Larsson. He scored again at the 7:22 mark of the second, doubling the lead to 2-0 on his second goal of the night, with Gourde and Eeli Tolvanen assisting.
The Avalanche got on the board late in the second period. With 28 seconds left, Mikko Rantanen scored a power play goal, getting the Avalanche to a 2-1 deficit on his 7th goal of the series, assisted by Devon Toews and Nathan MacKinnon. The Avalanche could not score again as the Kraken held down the fort, winning the series as a result.
Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol said that "Today, it was about winning a playoff series. It took a lot of energy out of us, that's for sure. You know what, it gives them their just reward, right? So guys can feel good about that. It continues to bolster the confidence of our group, even though I don't know that that ever has really wavered over the last few months. And like I said, it gives them that checkmark of success in the first playoff series that our franchise has played in."
Getting the start in goal for the deciding game was Philipp Grubauer for the Kraken, who had another strong game. Grubauer stopped all but one of the 34 shots he was tested with, posting a .971 save percentage in the victory.
It was Alexandar Georgiev in net for the Avalanche, who was outdueled and couldn't swing the series for the Avalanche. In the loss, Georgiev turned aside 25 out of the 27 shots on goal the Kraken had, recording a .926 save percentage.
Rantanen said after the game "Very, very disappointing, especially the way we played. I feel like we emptied the tank, that's for sure. We left our heart out there. Didn't come our way. We played better than them, but sometimes in hockey, it doesn't matter. Their goalie played well, and we couldn't find the back of the net. So obviously disappointing to end the season like this."
Up next, the Kraken travel to Dallas for game one of the second round on Tuesday against the Dallas Stars. The Avalanche will look ahead to a summer of decision making ahead of next season.
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