Close in Colorado, But No Late Equalizer

DENVER – Four minutes into the second period here at Ball Arena, the newly acquired Kaapo Kakko scored his first goal as a Kraken in just his third game. There will be plenty more, but probably not too many, that involved fellow young Seattle teammate Matty Beniers winning a faceoff to the right of the Colorado net, the puck sliding right to Kakko and his awaiting stick. The shot – a shot hard to imagine to ever repeat – threaded between the just-done-puck-dropping linesman’s legs. Crazy. Crazy good. The goal bumped the score to 2-1 Seattle.

“The good news for Kakko is some of the strengths of his game, what he's good at, aligns with how we want to play,” said Bylsma pre-game. “Just getting more and more comfortable with putting his best game out there helps us, helps the group, but also his confidence that he can go out and play his game.”

The lead didn’t last long, in fact, just 11 seconds. Colorado superstar Nathan Mackinnon muscled into the Kraken zone from the center-ice faceoff circle, Seattle D-man Jamie Oleksiak slowing but not stopping his shot, which Joey Daccord saved. But just 11 seconds after the Kakko score, Avalanche first-line Valeri Nichushkin knotted the score.

From there, Kakko and linemate Matty Beniers and Jaden Schwartz looked to be more in sync each shift, and Kakko was definitely looking more apt to fire shots, carry the puck and play his game.

Kakko Puts Team First Before Talking His Goal

“Tough loss again, that's the first thing,” said Kakko when asked about scoring his first goal for Seattle. “It feels a little better to get the first one out of the way. But, I mean, you gotta win the games. I felt better the last couple of games. You know? We got the puck in the O-zone a little more and spent time down low.”

On the near-miss late in regulation, Beniers worked in that down-low area to put a shot on goal. Kakko seized the rebound but couldn’t quite lift over goaltender Mackenize Blackwood (traded to Avalanche in early December), the puck hitting the top of the goalie’s leg pad.

“That's a nice save,” said Kakko, disappointed in himself. “But it's gotta be a goal.”

“Kakko has become more comfortable and better and better. I thought that was Kakko’s best game, just seeing what he can do,” said Bylsma post-game. “Yeah, that includes the shot for the goal, but also his down-low play, a big body being at the net. That whole line was doing a good job of that. Kakko has a great chance there at the net, where he's big and strong and the goalie narrowly makes a save on that one. All around like they were our best line tonight.”

Earlier Third-Period Chances Nearly Tied Too

Schwartz nearly tied the game seven minutes into the third period on a breakaway, thwarted by goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, who beat the Kraken with San Jose on Dec. 1 and has since been traded to the Avalanche. A few shifts before the Schwartz breakaway, another young Kraken, Ryker Evans, got the puck past Blackwood, but the laser shot hit both crossbar and post. Kakko had a choice scoring later third, too, along with Jared McCann, who scored Seattle’s first goal.

But the Kraken third-period push stalled when Colorado’s Joel Kiviranta took advantage at the Kraken offensive-zone blue line, stealing a puck from Jared McCann with just under three minutes remaining to score on an empty net only seconds before vacated by Joey Daccord. The Avalanche added another empty-netter to make it a 5-2 final.

Late First-Period Energy, Three Avs Power Plays

Just when it appeared going into the first intermission down just one goal despite three high-powered Colorado power plays was a solid outcome, a pair of tweaked Kraken lines willed this game even after the 20 minutes. With under five minutes left in the frame, Jaden Schwartz, Beniers and Kakko all swarmed the Avalanche net, nearly scoring in the scrum, bringing physicality and battle level that has waned in recent games. Beniers carried the puck toward the crease, but all three were driving the net.

Not long after, rookie center Shane Wright won the puck off the left half wall, staying with it to move play to the neutral zone despite two Avs defenders looking to stop him. From there, Wright sped up into the play while winger-for-this-night Yanni Gourde stole the puck during a Colorado attempt to enter the offensive zone. Gourde conducted give-and-go moves as if they had been linemates all season.

Once in the offensive zone, Wright went deep right-side goal line to draw defenders and effectively give Jared McCann time and space – distracting Avs defenders just enough that they simply lost track of where McCann and his lethal shot were located. McCann didn’t disappoint, ripping a shot upper far left corner to tie matters at one apiece.

Colorado did score on one of its three first-period power plays when star defenseman Cale Makar (feel free to boo, Kraken faithful) lined a hard shot from the right point. Daccord was partially screened by bodies in front. That’s 11 goals on the year for Makar with assists meted out to Avalanche and NHL leading scorer Nathan MacKinnon and Colorado’s second-leading scorer Mikko Rantanen (19 goals, 33 assists).

Using Holiday Break as a Reset

"A lot's been said,” said Bylsma when asked if the holiday break can be used to turn around a record that is four games under NHL .500 for the first time this year. “There's a lot of searching from the group, from the guys going on. We didn't want to use the last two games as throwaway and get to the break. We wanted to take some growth as a team in these two games. The effort that we put in tonight I consider growth for our group. But the four-day break; we have to take as a break mentally, get away from the game a little bit, get refreshed ... and come back after Christmas and be ready to go.”