Initial observations from the Avalanche’s 2-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken in Game 7 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series.
1. Great Wall of Gruby returns
Many of the players wearing Burgundy and Blue for the Avs over the last four years have a championship ring for their blood, sweat and tears. Philipp Grubauer doesn’t, so after watching Colorado win a Stanley Cup without him last spring after he manned the net here from 2018-21, pulling the upset in this series had to feel sweet. For much of the opening period, our old pal Gruby was running out of heads upon which to stand. At one point, the Seattle goalie found himself blindly protecting the puck with his glove-side left hand while splayed out prone, as if floating on Turquoise Lake, while bodies jostled and tumbled in the crease. The German turned away 33 shots on the night. Over the first 20 minutes of action, Gruby stopped 16 shots, while Seattle had managed only six on the other end of the ice. During a scoreless first stanza, per NaturalStatTrick.com, the Avs managed 12 scoring chances to the Kraken’s five.
2. Rare power in Avs’ PP
The Avs went into Game 7 just 1 for 17 (5.88% conversion rate) on power play goals before Nathan MacKinnon’s laser one-timer doinked off Mikko Rantanen and past Grubauer at the end of the second period to snap a three-game scoring drought with the extra man. The defending champs’ PP goal was their first since Rantanen found the back of the net in Game 4. The Avs were 7 for 16 — 43.8% — in the first round vs. Nashville in the spring of ’22. Colorado led NHL playoff teams in ratio of power-play makes — 32.8% (20 on 61 opportunities) throughout last year’s Cup run.
3. Bad luck, bad history or bad destiny?
Game 7s are like that aren’t they? Goals taken off the board by the officials. Fluky goals that carom off a guy’s glove. The first Kraken goal bounced off an unknowing Ben Meyers, who at the time was trying to nudge Seattle’s Brandon Tanev out of the crease. Instead, an airborne puck from Oliver Bjorkstrand basically hit Meyers on the right hand and disaster followed, as the latter appeared to inadvertently punch it past Alexandar Georgiev and into his own net 3:24 into the second period. That opened the scoring and meant Seattle had a 1-0 lead in every game of this series. Four minutes later, Bjorkstrand was more direct — and deadly. The Seattle winger beat Cale Makar on a sprint up the left side of the ice and wristed the biscuit into the twine for a 2-0 lead that (again) took Avs fans out of the game.
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