Initial observations from the Avalanche’s 6-4 victory over the Seattle Kraken in Game 3 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series.
No Big Val, no problem: Following a theme that’s haunted Colorado throughout its title defense, forward Valeri Nichushkin was a late scratch Saturday due to personal reasons. This, of course, is where having a glut of superstar talent comes in handy. Held to one goal over Games 1 and 2, the triumvirate of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen delivered when the Avs needed them most, combining for five goals, and seven total points, to seize control of the series. While the first four goals were all vintage tallies, it was MacKinnon who truly stole the show. In the first period, the veteran center poked ahead a loose puck in his own end and turned on the afterburners to create a one-man rush that put the Avs ahead 2-1. Two periods later, he followed Rantanen’s five-hole masterpiece by deking Ryan Donato to the ice and firing off a top-shelf wrister that squeezed through the tiniest of cracks to beat Philipp Grubauer glove side.
Taking control of the circle: One game after the Avalanche scored a pair of goals off faceoff wins on Seattle’s end of the ice, including Devon Toews’ game-winner in the third period, Colorado struck again on Saturday night. With Colorado ahead 2-1 in the second period, Alex Newhook’s back tap found the stick of Makar for a 92-mph laser beam that Grubauer had no chance of stopping. Colorado won 62.5% of the faceoffs (25 of 40) through the first two periods of Game 3 after winning 56.4% in Game 1 and 55.2% in Game 3. So, could it be that one of the Avs’ biggest weaknesses (27th in the NHL in faceoff win percentage) has now become a strength? Here’s guessing it’s because Seattle (31st at 45.3% during the regular season) is even worse. And that’s just fine for Colorado … for now.
The seven-minute sleepwalk: Perhaps it’s time for the head coach Jared Bednar to switch up the pregame routine? Whatever the Avs are doing, it clearly isn’t working. For the third consecutive game to start the series, Colorado was on its heels almost immediately against a more aggressive and physical Kraken team. And for the third consecutive game, the Avs trailed 1-0 minutes into the game as a result. Seattle outshot the Colorado, 7-1, over the first seven minutes. While the they were able to kill off a penalty in the opening five minutes, the Kraken’s early surge eventually produced a goal after a scramble in front of the net caused enough chaos for defenseman Justin Schultz to snipe one past Alexandar Georgiev from the blue line. Constantly starting from behind is no way to win a series. Then again, who needs fast starts when you’ve got lightning fast skaters?
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This story has been corrected to reflect that Valeri Nichushkin missed Game 3 due to personal reasons, not an injury as a team spokesman had previously indicated. The Post regrets the error.
