Avalanche sink Kraken under 7-3

The Colorado Avalanche had a wild night in the home of the Seattle Kraken for the first time. The Avs were flying for the majority of the game despite the scoreline, routing the Kraken 7-3.

The Avs were up 7-0 in the third before taking their foot off the gas and thanks to some questionable referee decisions. Nonetheless, the Avs win their fourth straight and are hot running back up the Central Division standings.

1st Period

Things got going quickly in Climate Pledge Arena. Ryan Donato took an early hooking penalty, giving the red-hot power play a chance for the lead. They did just that as Andre Burakovsky gobbled up the rebound for the 1-0 lead.

It seemed like the Kraken could get back into it after Sam Girard committed a cross checking penalty in the far defensive corner. In fact, it would be Valeri Nichushkin steaming in his train down the ice on the breakaway with a vicious shot into the top corner shorthanded to give the Avs a 2-0 lead.

The Kraken had their chances, as Jaden Schwartz rang one off the post on a breakaway of his own. Former Avalanche forward Joonas Donskoi had a whack at it on the power play, looking for his first goal of the season against his former club. Carson Soucy had a good chance walking in from the side at the end of the period but couldn’t get the goose egg off the board.

2nd Period

After a couple of early chances for the Avs, Nazem Kadri won a clean face off back to Cale Makar who bulleted one from the blue line that deflected off of Mikko Rantanen top shelf to make it 3-0.

They weren’t done there though. Jared McCann took a bad roughing penalty that lead to Burakovsky’s second power play goal of the night and making it 4-0.

It was the end of Chris Driedger’s night, and we saw what we had hoped for: the return of Phillip Grubauer against his former side, unfortunately not under the best of circumstances for him.

It didn’t get any better for him either. After Gabriel Landeskog came back and brilliantly stopped a 2-on-1 for the Kraken, Makar came rushing into the offensive zone. He shot one on Grubauer and collected his own rebound for a 5-0 lead.

The goals kept raining in Seattle, as this time Erik Johnson found his way down by the right circle and snapped one past his former netminder, extending it to 6-0 and giving the Avs a touchdown.

Kiefer Sherwood almost made it seven on the breakaway and earned a penalty that lead to several more chances that the Avs could not complete before the end of the period.

3rd Period

Things started weird in the third as the commentators for the game were given food service and eating during the game. There weren’t many talking points for them if this was the treatment they were getting on live air.

Nick Aube-Kubel would give them something to talk about though, as he scored his first goal of the season and his first in an Avs uniform to make it 7-0.

The Kraken would at least give their fans something to cheer about. After a tripping penalty by Jayson Megna, Jordan Eberle put one into an empty net and break the deadlock 7-1.

After a scrum from a knee-on-knee hit, the Kraken would have more to cheer about. Brandon Tanev put in his seventh of the season and make it 7-2.

Despite the wide margin, the Kraken had some fight in them with several more chances and more tempo to them than they did in the second. It left the Avs a little shocked. With the wide margin, it would have taken a miracle for the Kraken to get anywhere near back into this game.

The Kraken weren’t done yet though, as Colin Blackwell got his first goal of the season down front squeezing one between the post and Kuemper. It made it 7-3, and was the last goal of the night in this high-scoring affair.

Takeaways

Kadri continues to be in the spotlight in his redemption tour. With two assists on the night, he continues his point streak moving it up to eight games with 14 points. With how last season ended for him, he is doing everything right so far in this young season. Makar and Burakovsky scored two goals each too in a good game for the pair.

The run of offense the Avs are currently on is making history. With 24 goals over four games, it is the most goals by any team over a four game span ever. Remember, this is all without star forward Nathan MacKinnon. While the Avs opponents have been significantly weaker in this run, it is still something special to watch heading into a busy December.

While having a 7-0 lead in the third, the Avs took too many penalties in the third. It lead to two of the Kraken’s three goals on the night. It is probably one of the few negatives to take from this game and should be addressed before the next game. Again, thankfully, the Avs come out healthy at least with no visible injuries coming off the ice.

Upcoming

For now, the Avs have their next game on Monday night back home against the Ottawa Senators. The Sens are locked down due to COVID and depending on their recovery, there may not be a game on Monday. It is something to keep an eye on as it would be the Senators first game back from being locked down. For now, puck drop is set for 6:30 p.m. MT.