"That's something we don't want them to feel good about," said Dunn. "They were good with the puck and I think we let them come at us a little bit too much. We were not slowing them down with our forecheck."
Must-do: Both Dunn and Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol acknowledge Avalanche stars Makar, MacKinnon, and Rantanen are going to get their scoring chances, especially on power plays, and if Colorado coach Jared Bednar opts to keep MacKinnon and Rantanen together on the first line Sunday plus gets the defensive pair of Makar and young D-man Bowen Byram.
"When those three are together, they find each other and they make a lot of plays," said Dunn. "As much as we can we got to slow them down, get in their way, just make their chances less high-end."
Must-do: Dunn has enjoyed a breakout season on the first-defensive pair with Adam Larsson. GM Ron Francis no doubt projected such a rise as part of selecting Dunn in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. Dave Hakstol and assistant Jay Leach decided after last season's trade deadline to keep the now great friends, Dunn and Larsson, as a tandem at the blue line.
All of which adds up to Dunn parsing out advice to his 10 teammates playing in the first Game 7 in an NHL postseason: "Just play like it's any other game. Every play counts and you just have to be mentally focused every time you're out there ... Don't get sucked into the atmosphere in another team's building."
Watch: Youtube Video
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##### Two: Lean Into Game 7 Experience
Along with Dunn, here the nine other Kraken who have played in Game 7s: Jordan Eberle, Yanni Gourde, Philipp Grubauer, Martin Jones, Adam Larsson, Jamie Oleksiak, Justin Schultz, Jaden Schwartz, and Brandon Tanev. The 10 Kraken players have appeared in 23 Game 7s, posting a 15-8 record in those games. Gourde and Schultz have won two Stanley Cups, while Dunn, Schwartz, and Grubauer are all Cup winners too.
Schwartz (4-0), Jones (3-0), Dunn (2-0), Schultz (2-0), Oleksiak (1-0) and Tanev (1-0) are all undefeated in their careers in Game 7s.
"It's been a tight series, and it comes down to one game to move on," said Schwartz, who was a scoring star for Cup-winning St. Louis in 2019. "There's really nothing like it for an athlete when it comes down to something like this. Easiest games to get up for ... we've got a really good chance to do something special."
##### Three: Going Deep
Jordan Eberle played in a 2021 Game 7 for the New York Islanders in which the winner determined the Eastern Conference champs and a berth in the Stanley Cup Final. Fellow alternate captain Yanni Gourde played in the same game and scored the only goal of the game (it was shorthanded) to propel the Tampa Bay Lightning into the Cup Final and a second straight title. Expect both veterans to create chances for themselves or linemates Sunday; they know what's at stake.
Eberle and Gourde are among the 14 different players who have scored for Seattle in the first six games of this historic series, including four defensemen (Dunn, Schultz, Oleksiak, and D-partner Will Borgen), two rookies (Matty Beniers and Tye Kartye), three forwards with previous playoff appearances but first-ever postseason scores (Daniel Sprong and Morgan Geekie, the latter has scored twice). The entire Alex Wennberg line has scored goals, same for the Beniers line, with 10 of the 12 forwards likely to dress Sunday already in the scorebook with goals.
It's almost easier to ID who has yet to score but could credibly be heroes Sunday night: Oliver Bjorkstrand (the pick here) and Ryan Donato (another good pick) up front with defenseman Adam Larsson and Carson Soucy both the types unafraid to jump into offensive play. Depth scoring got the Kraken here to this decisive night and much respect across the NHL, why not count on that depth to be the X-factor against a Colorado team front-loaded with scorers.
