First Round Series Preview: Avalanche vs. Kraken

Playoff hockey is back.
The Colorado Avalanche officially embark on the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Tuesday, April 18 as they will go head-to-head against the Seattle Kraken, in the team's first-ever postseason appearance.
After clinching the top seed in the Central Division - for the third-straight year - the Avalanche have the advantage of home ice. Game 1 between Colorado and Seattle will begin on Tuesday night at Ball Arena with an 8:00 p.m. MT puck drop.
As the Avalanche look to defend the Stanley Cup and repeat as champions, they're taking on this year's postseason with the motto #OneWayOurWay.
Here's a comprehensive look at the First-Round matchup between the Avs and Kraken:

DEFENDING CHAMPS TAKE ON THE NEWEST TEAM IN THE LEAGUE:

The storylines are rich in this First Round matchup as the defending Stanley Cup Champions in the Avalanche look to make history and repeat last year's success. And the first stop of their journey is historic in and of its own, as the Kraken are the 32nd and most recent team in the NHL after joining the league during the 2021-22 season.
This postseason berth marks the organization's first appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

LOOKING BACK AT THE REGULAR SEASON SERIES:

The Avalanche posted a 1-1-1 record in their three-game regular season series against the Kraken.
In the first meeting of the regular season on Oct. 21, 2022, the Avalanche suffered a 3-2 loss. In the next meeting on Jan. 21, Colorado defeated the Kraken 2-1 in a shootout, where Pavel Francouz denied all three of Seattle's shootout attempts. The final meeting occurred on March 5, where Seattle earned the two-point victory by a 3-2 score in overtime.
In the season series, Valeri Nichushkin paced the Avalanche in scoring with three points on three assists, while Artturi Lehkonen (2A), Bowen Byram (1 SHG, 1A) and Evan Rodrigues (1G, 1A) each posted two points. For the Kraken, Jaden Schwartz led his squad with four points (1G, 3A), while Jared McCann added two points (1G, 1A) and the team benefitted from an additional five goal scorers; Karson Kuhlman, Brandon Tanev, Ryan Donato, Alex Wennberg and Yanni Gourde.
"All three games were one goal games, sort of tough like, it was almost a playoff game," Mikko Rantanen said of the matchup. "There's not a lot of room for goals. [We have to do] the same job we did defensively against them. Yeah, we had some tough times. We're more fresh now. It was back-to-back a lot when we played against them. The regular season is always different and it doesn't matter if you have lost all the games or if we won all the games. It's still 0-0 now."

SCOUTING THE KRAKEN:

Nashville finished the regular season with a 46-28-8 record and 100 points to claim the first Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. They finished the regular season averaging the fourth most goals for per game in the league at 3.52 (Colorado averaged the 11th-highest at 3.34), and obtained come-from-behind 14 victories.

INJURY STATUS:

Per Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar, Josh Manson (lower body) and Cale Makar (lower body, will be ready to go for Game 1 on Tuesday. Manson has been sidelined since March 1, while Makar has been out of the lineup since April 1.
Most recently, the Avalanche lost Andrew Cogliano (upper body) and Denis Malgin (undisclosed) to injuries that both forwards sustained in Game 81 on April 13 against Winnipeg. Both are expected to be available for Game 1 against Seattle as well.
On the longer term side, Darren Helm continues to "grind," according to Avalanche General Manager Chris MacFarland. Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog will not play in the postseason, as he announced on April 13 due to a knee injury that has sidelined him for the entirety of this year's regular season.
https://www.nhl.com/avalanche/news/landeskog-to-miss-2023-stanley-cup-playoffs/c-343485886
Seattle will be without former Avalanche winger and member of the 2022 Stanley Cup roster Andre Burakovsky, who recently underwent surgery for a lower-body injury. The team could also be without goaltenders
Chris Driedger
(knee) and Martin Jones (day-to-day, upper body) and forwards
Joonas Donskoi
(upper body) - who did not play at all in the regular season - and
John Hayden
(lower body).

#

X's and O's:

Despite the revolving door of injuries that plagued the Avalanche's lineup all season long, the team still found ways to win. And while their current roster doesn't have the depth in scoring that it did last year, the team has still benefited from contributions up and down the lineup and some extraordinary seasons as Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon each hit the 100-point mark in their respective career-high seasons.
Rantanen led the Avalanche in goals with 55 goals, which was the third-highest in the league behind Edmonton's Connor McDavid (64) and Boston's David Pastrnak (61). MacKinnon led the team in scoring with 111 points (42G, 69A) and a 1.56 points-per-game average that ranked third-highest in the NHL despite the centerman only playing in 71 games. Both Rantanen and MacKinnon led the team in game-winning goals with nine apiece.
Colorado's high-octane offense will be a challenge to defend against given its dispersed and varied scoring among forwards as well as defensemen.
Makar - the reigning James Memorial Norris Trophy Winner and 2022 Conn Smythe recipient - still posted another historic season despite tending to injuries at different points. The 24-year-old became the fastest defensemen in NHL history to reach 200-career points in just 195 games. Makar accomplished the impressive feat in 12 fewer games than the previous best mark set by Sergei Zubov, who did so in 207-career games.
He also totaled 66 points (17G, 49A) in 60 games for the second-best points-per-game average at 1.10 among blueliners behind San Jose defenseman Erik Karlsson was generating points at a higher clip than Makar as the Swede did so at a 1.23 in his historic 100-point season where he became only the sixth ever defensemen to record 100 points and first since Brian Leetch (1991-92). Devon Toews also produced 50 points (7G, 43A) on the season and a team-leading plus-39 rating, while Samuel Girard posted a career-high season with 37 points (6G, 31A).
Seattle's scoring depth is a strength of their squad as the team boasted a six different skaters who hit the 20-goal mark; McCann (40G), Matty Beniers (24G), Daniel Sprong (21G), Schwartz (21G), Jordan Eberle (20G) and Oliver Bjorkstrand (20G).
McCann led the team in scoring with a career-high year across the board as he reach 70 points (40G, 30A), while defenseman Vince Dunn also had a career-best campaign with 64 points (14G, 50A) and veteran winger Jordan Eberle totaled 63 points (20G, 43A) - a feat the 32-year-old hasn't accomplished since the 2014-15 season.

#

GOALTENDING:

Avalanche:
Georgiev finished his career-high season with 40 wins, which was tied with Boston's Linus Ullmark for the best in the league. Georgiev earned a .919 SV% and a 2.53 GAA as well as a career-best of five shutouts (ranked second-most in the league). The 27-year-old posted a 40-16-6 record through 62 starts.
Against Seattle, Georgiev dressed in one of the meetings - suffering an overtime loss - and recorded a 2.93 goals-against average.
Francouz made 16 starts for the Avalanche this season and earned eight wins and one shutout. The 32-year-old Czech netminder owned a 2.61 GAA and a 9.15 SV% in the regular season.
Against the Kraken, Francouz made two starts and went 1-1-0, registered a .938 SV% and a 1.93 GAA.
Kraken:
For Seattle, former Avalanche netminder Philipp Grubauer earned a 17-14-4 record, a 2.85 GAA and a .895 SV% in 39 games (36 starts) this season.
Jones split time between the pipes with Grubauer and owned a 27-13-3 record with a 2.99 GAA, a .887 save percentage and three shutouts in 48 games (42 starts).

#

POTENTIAL X-FACTORS:

Colorado center J.T. Compher
Coming off a career-high season where he totaled 52 points (17G, 35A) in 82 games and seized the second-line center vacancy - after Nazem Kadri's offseason departure - J.T. Compher is staged to have a big impact for the Avalanche in playoffs.
The 28-year-old has been one of Colorado's continuously most complete players as he's executed a consistent 200-foot performance on a nightly basis and can be implemented in all situations; power play, penalty kill, overtime, and has assumed a larger responsibility in the faceoff circle for the Avalanche where Compher took a grand total of 1,665 draws, won 813 of them and lost 852 of them.
During last year's Stanley Cup-winning run, Compher was plugged in the third-line center spot, but was elevated to the 2C after Kadri suffered a hand injury in the Second Round and didn't return until Game 4. Throughout those 20 postseason games, Compher produced eight points (5G, 3A).
Seattle winger Daniel Sprong
Of Seattle's six 20-goal scorers, Sprong was one of the skaters to hit the 20-goal mark, an impressive feat which marked the first time in his career doing so.
While the 26-year-old has been a fixture on the Kraken's fourth line with Brandon Tanev and Ryan Donato, Sprong has showcased his innate skill and the offensive upside to his game where he compiled a career-best 46 points (21G, 25A) in 66 games. The Dutch native also has been deployed on Seattle's second power play unit.
For the full First Round schedule between the Avalanche and Kraken click here.