The Colorado Avalanche responded to a must-win game with intensity and grit to beat the Seattle Kraken 4-1 in Game 6 and force a Game 7 at Ball Arena Sunday night.
The Colorado Avalanche won to fight another day, or play another game, in this case.
Forwards Mikko Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen, and defensemen Devon Toews and Cale Makar all had two points each in the 4-1 Game 6 win at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle Friday night.
The Avalanche looked more like the team that dominated the last month and a half of the regular season to win the Central Division. Colorado came out energized to get the game going and stayed with it for the full 60 minutes. Exactly what head coach Jared Bednar was calling for from his team.
Alexandar Georgiev played another stellar game with 22 saves and the Avalanche forced a Game 7 back at Ball Arena on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. MT.
“I think we played with confidence and swagger. We were making plays. We were doing what we’re doing all year long before getting to this series,” Evan Rodrigues said after the win. “We came out hard, we came out hot and I think we took it to them. We just got to hit the reset button again here and get ready for Game 7 and do the same thing.”
Makar said the second goal of the game from Erik Johnson was huge and that the team is just resetting and refocusing to be back in Denver for Game 7.
“We knew we hadn’t played well enough and we knew if we just gave ourselves a chance and played our game that we could force a Game 7 and bring it back home,” Johnson said after the game. “We just wanted to play our game and we played our best game this series and we were rewarded for it.”
Bednar was impressed with his team getting into the game right away with energy and that it kept it up for the full 60 minutes.
"You rarely, unless it's a major breakdown, are you going to score without a second and third effort in the playoffs. You can in the regular season at times, but it takes more. The game, it just, it demands more come this time of the year. There were times in this series, where we just didn’t give more and so we didn’t win.
“Throughout our lineup, the second effort and good conscious on the defensive side of things engaged physically, we just looked so much quicker. I mean I couldn’t even recognize the team we were in Game 4 and we respond with a really good effort tonight. Now, obviously, the key is got to go do it again,” Bednar said.
Going into Game 6
On Thursday, Bednar said his team was not showing up for 60 minutes and, in some games, even 30 minutes with the play he’s come to expect from his players. That wasn’t sitting well with him and he wanted to fix it.
“So I think, you know, it's correctable what we're doing. I think it is, it's a mindset, it's more mental, obviously than physical,” Bednar said. “It's disappointing for me to this point, and we'll chat about it as a team, because I've seen this team sort of excel, fight through adversity, obstacles in their way and play a resilient, determined, you know, tenacious game. You know, it's not always perfect.”
Bednar’s chat with the team apparently sparked a balance to get back on track and what it needed to come out and play with the tenacity and vigor it did in Game 6.
Makar returned to the ice after a one-game suspension for a hit that earned him two minutes in the penalty box at the time of the game for interference on Kraken forward Jared McCann. He said he tried to ask the referee about the call but didn’t get a response.
“I've been in that scenario this year, multiple times, obviously with direct head hits. So I never, my intention is never to hurt anybody. And it's unfortunate that that was the result. But I hope he's okay and stuff,” Makar said before the team flight Thursday. “And but overall, I think probably the first, first call in history that went from no call to major to minor to suspension. So it's a little bit of an odd one, but it is what it is, you put it in the past now and kind of move on.”
Off-ice distractions
Colorado has been without Valeri Nichushkin for the last four games as he’s been out for “personal reasons.” The Hockey News obtained a police report for an incident involving Nichushkin and a highly intoxicated woman found when team staff went to check on the 28-year-old forward.
Nichushkin’s return is not expected any time soon as Bednar has given no timeline but did say the team has been in contact with him.
Colorado is 2-3 in the team's history of Game 7’s after trailing 3-2 in the series. But the Avs just need to play their game for another 60 minutes, at least, in order to get past the Kraken and move on to face the Dallas Stars in Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.