On Monday the Colorado Avalanche were looking to extend their lead to 2 -1 in their series with the Seattle Kraken. The Kraken stole game one in Denver in a game where the Avalanche were outhustled in a game that clearly showed that Seattle wanted the win more than Colorado.
Much of the same is what Avalanche fans have seen throughout the series, with the Kraken out hustling the Avs in the first period or two before the sleeping giant emerges late in the second and third periods where Colorado has come from behind to tie up and win.
This unfortunately isn’t a formula for winning in the NHL postseason and it finally caught up to Colorado on Monday night in Seattle.
The Kraken came out swinging and landed two unanswered goals in the first period stunning the Avs, once again. The Kraken outshot the Avs by nearly double and the Kraken’s alt-captain Jaden Schwartz alone had 11 shots-on-goal, half of what the entire Avalanche team shot.
While it’s clear that Colorado’s motivating force and team captain, Gabriel Landeskog is a huge hole to fill, their most recent loss of Valeri Nichushkin who is out indefinitely since game three is also a glaring hole that Colorado is in dire need of filling.
With two key players out now for Colorado, a third is on the brink of being suspended. Defenceman Cale Makar was penalized for a hit he put on Kraken player Jared McCann that put him into the boards. The call was initially a major, but after a short meeting between the refs, it was downgraded to a minor penalty. McCann left the game and would not return.
The Kraken have already stated that he will likely miss game four and quite possibly the remainder of the series with the Avs. Tuesday morning Makar had a hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety and was penalized one game for his actions.
Colorado is now tied 2–2 in their series with Seattle and are returning home on on Wednesday night to host the Kraken at 7:30 p.m. at Ball Arena.
In other sports the Denver Nuggets missed a huge opportunity to put the Minnesota Timberwolves away on Sunday night in Minnesota. The Nuggets went into Minnesota with a 3–0 series lead over the Timberwolves. Much like the Avs, the Nuggets appeared to be less inter- ested in defeating their opponent in their home arena, and played like a team that didn’t care to end the series early.
While it’s clear that the two-time MVP, Nikola Jokic was poised to win, scoring 43 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists, the remainder of the team lacked tenacity and grit and despite the Nuggets coming from behind 12 points with two minutes to play in the game, it proved to be too little too late.
The Nuggets are at home to host the Timberwolves in game 5, in hopes of ending their series with Minnesota (results of this game not available at the time of print).
