Colorado’s Logan O’Connor had an eventful night, engaging in a fight early before scoring the game-winning goal, as the Avalanche defeated the Seattle Kraken 4-1 on Tuesday.
“I feel like he plays like that all the time. He’s going to play as hard as he can, use his skating to his advantage,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “He’s willing to do all the little things it takes to succeed.”
O’Connor and Artturi Lehkonen each scored their first-season goals in the second period. Mikko Rantanen added his third goal of the season with 6:15 remaining, helping the Avalanche spoil Seattle’s home opener. The win extended Colorado’s regular-season road winning streak to 14 games, tying an NHL record.
Avalanche goalie Alexandar Georgiev made 37 saves, thwarting nearly every threat Seattle posed.
“They were probably the better team tonight but (Georgiev) was huge back there, penalty kill was big,” O’Connor said. “He’s the best penalty killer out there.”
The game, a rematch of last season’s Western Conference first-round playoff series won by Seattle, started with a fight between O’Connor and Jordan Eberle in the first 90 seconds. It was only the third fight of Eberle’s career, the first since 2019, and was in response to his hit on Andrew Cogliano in Game 6 of the playoffs, which resulted in Cogliano suffering a neck fracture.
“We obviously go back to the series last year. It was a tough series, tough situation,” Eberle said. “I was just trying to get my teammates going.”
Colorado’s Cale Makar received boos every time he touched the puck, stemming from his hit on Jared McCann in Game 4 of the playoff series, which led to a one-game suspension and sidelined McCann for the rest of the series.
“There’s definitely a lot of animosity, I think,” O’Connor said. “We feel as though we didn’t give our best effort in that series last year. They played us hard. You have got to give them credit.”
Lehkonen scored at 3:50 of the second period after the puck deflected his way, leaving Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer out of position. O’Connor added a short-handed goal at 11:50 when Makar’s clearance bounced over Vince Dunn’s stick, sending O’Connor on a breakaway.
Grubauer made 23 saves and kept the game close with key stops before Rantanen scored his third of the season. Valeri Nichushkin sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 3:14 left. Nichushkin missed the final five postseason games of the first-round loss to Seattle for “personal reasons.”
Kailer Yamamoto gave Seattle an early lead at 15:09 of the first period with his first goal as the first player from Washington State to play for the Kraken. However, the Kraken failed to capitalize on opportunities, remaining winless through four games for the first time in their three seasons.
Seattle outshot and outhit the Avalanche but failed to convert on the power play, going 0 for 4 and 1 for 11 on the season.
“We lacked execution in a few spots tonight, and against a good team, that leaves us on the wrong side of the ledger,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said.
Game Notes:
- Makar picked up his 250th career point with the assist on O’Connor’s goal. O’Connor’s goal was the first short-handed score of the season for Colorado and the second allowed by Seattle.
- Seattle assistant coach Dave Lowry took a puck off the top of his head during the second period, requiring treatment, but returned to the bench in the third period.
- Seattle has killed 13 straight power plays to start the season.
UP NEXT:
- Avalanche: Host Chicago on Thursday night in their home opener.
- Kraken: Host Carolina on Thursday night.
