3 Keys: Avalanche at Kraken, Game 4 of Western 1st Round

(1C) Avalanche at (WC1) Kraken
Western Conference First Round, Game 4
Colorado leads best-of-7 series 2-1
10 p.m. ET; TBS, SN360, TVAS, ROOT-NW, ALT

SEATTLE -- The Colorado Avalanche will try to remain dominant on the road when they play the Seattle Kraken in Game 4 of the Western Conference First Round at Climate Pledge Arena on Monday.
The defending Stanley Cup champions have won 12 straight on the road, including an Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques record 11-game streak to end the regular season, and a 6-4 win in Game 3 at Seattle on Saturday.
The Avalanche are 16-1-0 in their past 17 road games and 19-2-1 in their past 22 going back to the regular season.
"We're confident in our game plan," Colorado forward Andrew Cogliano said. "I think that's the biggest thing. I think we know our game plan works, we know our systems work, and when you're on the road you stick to those, and we're confident in the guys in the room offensively that they can push through at the right time and score big goals and get us to where we need to go."
RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Kraken series coverage]
The Kraken, who joined the NHL as an expansion team last season and are in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time, are looking for their first home playoff win. The fans were loud during the Kraken's first home playoff game Saturday.
"It was pretty special, but we've got to feed off that, keep that energy level and help them get into the game with us and just take it over," Seattle forward Yanni Gourde said.
Teams that take a 3-1 lead in a best-of-7 series have a series record of 299-31 (90.6 percent), including 3-1 (75.0 percent) last season.
Here are 3 keys for Game 4:

1. Face-offs

The Avalanche have won 56.4 percent of the face-offs in the series and have scored four goals shortly after an offensive-zone face-off.
"Honestly, if I'm being blunt, I think we've got to be smart and cheat a little bit more," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "Colorado's doing a better job of that than us. They're getting away with it in the dot. That gives them the advantage, so we have to do a better job of that. If that's going to be allowed in the face-off dot, then we've got to be right there with them."
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said: "I think everyone finds a way to cheat a little bit here and there. But the referees are focusing on that, and they have some veteran linesmen in the series, and they keep talking to our guys all the time about, 'Hey, you can't do that,' and they're kicking guys out here and there."

2. Power play

Colorado is 0-for-7 on the power play in the series after going 0-for-6 against Seattle in three regular-season games.
"Just got to stick with it and maybe try to attack a little bit more when they get stationary," Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen said. "We kind of slow it down. If we can just move it quicker and attack more, get greasy goals on the power play, I think that's what we're looking for."
Seattle is 1-for-11 on the power play in the series. Forward Jaden Schwartz scored on a deflection with 40 seconds left in the third period of Game 3 to cut Colorado's lead to 6-4.
"We've got to move the puck fast," Kraken forward Oliver Bjorkstrand said. "I think that's a huge key. If we're moving it slow, they're just going to pressure us well and it's going to be easy for them."

3. Momentum

In Game 2, the Kraken blew a 2-0 lead by allowing two goals in 48 seconds. In Game 3, they scored two goals in 19 seconds to tie it 3-3, then gave up two goals in 1:28 to fall behind 5-3.
"We have to be able to change and control the momentum," Hakstol said. "Some of the quick momentum swings in this series, we've been on the wrong end of that a couple of times."

Avalanche projected lineup

Artturi Lehkonen -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Evan Rodrigues
Matt Nieto -- J.T. Compher -- Mikko Rantanen
Ben Meyers -- Lars Eller -- Denis Malgin
Andrew Cogliano -- Alex Newhook -- Logan O'Connor
Bowen Byram -- Cale Makar
Samuel Girard -- Devon Toews
Josh Manson -- Erik Johnson
Alexandar Georgiev
Pavel Francouz
Scratched:Brad Hunt, Kurtis MacDermid, Keith Kinkaid, Valeri Nichushkin
Injured: Darren Helm (lower body), Jack Johnson (lower body)

Kraken projected lineup

Jared McCann -- Matty Beniers -- Jordan Eberle
Jaden Schwartz -- Alex Wennberg -- Morgan Geekie
Eeli Tolvanen -- Yanni Gourde -- Oliver Bjorkstrand
Brandon Tanev -- Ryan Donato -- Daniel Sprong
Vince Dunn -- Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak -- Will Borgen
Carson Soucy -- Justin Schultz
Philipp Grubauer
Martin Jones
Scratched: Cale Fleury, Jaycob Megna, Jesper Froden, Chris Driedger
Injured:Andre Burakovsky (lower body), Joonas Donskoi (upper body), John Hayden (lower body)

Status report

Nichushkin, a forward who missed Game 3 on Saturday after leaving the team for personal reasons, remains out indefinitely. … Helm, a forward who missed Game 1 and Game 3 but played Game 2, skated Sunday but not Monday and is day to day. … Geekie was at the morning skate and will play after missing Game 3 for the birth of his first child, daughter Gabby, shortly before the game started Saturday.
NHL.com independent correspondent Kevin Woodley contributed to this report