COLORADO AVALANCHE (3-3) AT SEATTLE KRAKEN (3-3)
7:30 PM MT | BALL ARENA
The Colorado Avalanche are taking on the Seattle Kraken in a winner-take-all Game 7.
The Colorado Avalanche seek to clinch the First Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs as they take on the Seattle Kraken on Sunday night at Ball Arena in Game 7. The best-of-seven series tied 3-3. The winner will advance to the Second Round to take on Central Division foe, the Dallas Stars.
Last time out:
The Colorado Avalanche return home to Ball Arena with the series tied 3-3 after defeating the Seattle Kraken 4-1 on Friday night in Seattle at Climate Pledge Arena. Forward Mikko Rantanen notched his sixth goal of the playoffs, and forward Artturi Lehkonen found the back of the net twice for his second and third goals of the postseason. Defenseman Erik Johnson scored his first goal of the playoffs after not netting a goal in the regular season. Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev stopped 22 of the 23 shots that came his way.
Defenseman Vince Dunn scored an unassisted goal, Seattle’s only in Game 6. Goalie Philipp Grubauer turned away 35 of the 38 shots he faced.
Goaltending Matchup:
Alexandar Georgiev and Philipp Grubauer are each 3-3-0 through six starts apiece. Georgiev has a slight edge at sv% (.919 vs. Grubauer’s .913), while Grubauer has an even thinner edge at GAA (2.68 vs. Georgiev’s 2.69).
Players to Watch:
Cale Makar finished with two points to reach 49 career postseason assists, surpassing Sandis Ozolinsh for the most postseason assists by a defenseman in franchise history and sixth-most among all Avalanche/Nordiques skaters. Makar has recorded 65 career points in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, tying Ozolinsh for most career postseason points by a defenseman in franchise history and eighth-most among all Avalanche/Nordiques skaters. Makar’s performance was his ninth career multi-assist game in the playoffs, tied with Nathan MacKinnon for the fifth-most such outings in franchise history.
Mikko Rantanen recorded two points for his 28th career multi-point game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, passing Nathan MacKinnon for the third-most multi-point games in franchise history. Rantanen’s assist was the 57th of his postseason career, tying Peter Stastny for third-most among all Avalanche/Nordiques skaters.
QUOTE(S) THAT LEFT A MARK
“To get where you want to go – which is to win the Cup again – there is always adversity. You battle through adversity to reach your goals, and it’s not always easy.” -Defenseman Erik Johnson on the series against the Kraken. “The home crowd is a big difference maker,” E. Johnson said. “Those are the games that you pretend to play in when you were a kid. Those are fun atmospheres. We worked for home ice, so to have home ice advantage in a situation like this, we’re excited. Like anything, success is never achieved easily,” E. Johnson said after Game 6. “There’s always adversity. No matter what you do in life, success is never going to be easy. No one said it was going to be easy, and we didn’t expect the series to be easy. To get where you want to go – which is to win the [Stanley] Cup again – there’s always adversity. That’s just life. You battle through adversity to reach your goals, and it’s not always easy, and it usually never is.”
“A huge part of our identity is the belief that we can overcome obstacles,” Lars Eller said. “We’ve overcome deficits in games many times since I joined last month. We’ve overcome adversity. Now, we have another obstacle, another mountain to climb, and it’s a great opportunity.”
quote credits: Sasha Kandrach / ColoradoAvalanche.com
Factoids:
Erik Johnson’s marker stood as the game-winner, his first career game-winning goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Kraken scored the first goal of the game for the sixth-consecutive game, making them the only NHL team to do so ever in their postseason debut.
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