The Colorado Avalanche beat the Seattle Kraken in Game Two of the series last night, by a final score of 3-2. Game Three of the series will take place on Saturday Night in Seattle, but let’s break down Game Two.
The First Period
The first period of this game started out about the same as Game One started. The Kraken struck early, as Justin Schultz scored the first goal of the game two minutes and 40 seconds in. He scored off a beautiful setup, right in between three Avs defenders. Georgiev didn’t have any help on that one.
10 minutes later, when the Avs were on the power play, the puck was dumped into the Avalanche zone. Yanni Gourde went to the boards, did a little poke pass right to center ice, and found Brandon Tanev, who was wide open and scored shorthanded.
The Avalanche even up the series against the Kraken.
A little note, after Tanev scored shorthanded, he was seen blowing a kiss to an Avs fan in the crowd.
The Avs found themselves down 2-0 at the end of the first on two goals they wish they had back. Colorado’s defensive awareness on those two goals was poor, and Seattle had all of the momentum going into the second.
The Second Period
The second period started off pretty evenly played, with both teams getting some opportunities, but the overall defense had tightened up. The Avalanche were looking for any kind of spark, but Seattle wasn’t giving it to them early on.
In sports, especially in hockey, one good bounce can change the outcome of the entire game, and that’s what happened for Colorado. They would get their first goal of the game from Arturri Lehkonen.
The goal was a tipped shot from a blast on the outside, and Grubauer really had no shot on that one. That goal ended up being the turning point in the game, as they got their second goal 48 seconds later, this time from Valeri Nichushkin.
After that second goal went in, the Kraken looked lost. It was the complete opposite of Game One, as Colorado now had the big advantage going into the third.
The Third Period
The third period started off like the second did. The Kraken picked up their play slightly, making it more even. They did rebound somewhat well from being dominated in the last 10 minutes of the second.
However, the clean game ended when Devon Toews scored 12 minutes and 59 seconds into the third.
That goal would be enough, as the Avs won 3-2. It was a huge momentum shift from the first to the second period, and they found their rhythm with those two goals in 48 seconds.