SEA_COL_Matchup

The Colorado Avalanche will play the Seattle Kraken in the Western Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Avalanche (51-24-7) won the Central Division with a 4-3 win against the Nashville Predators on Friday. The Kraken (46-28-8) are the first wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.
Game 1 will be played at Ball Arena in Denver on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN360, TVAS).
Colorado is the defending Stanley Cup champion and is in the postseason for the sixth straight season.
The Kraken are in the playoffs for the first time. They missed the postseason in 2021-22, their first in the NHL.
"The defensive game and the checking game, that's what leads you to championships usually," Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen said. "You have to be really good at your defense, and we've been working at it. Hopefully we can keep this up, just find a way to get wins. It's not going to be easy against Seattle. They're a good team, but we got to just find a way."
The Kraken won two of the three games between the teams this season, winning 3-2 on Oct. 21 in Colorado, losing 2-1 in a shootout on Jan. 21 in Seattle and winning 3-2 in overtime on March 5 in Colorado.
Forward Valeri Nichushkin led the Avalanche with three points (all assists), and defenseman Bowen Byram (one goal, one assist), forward Evan Rodrigues (one goal, one assist) and forward Artturi Lehkonen (two assists) each had two points against the Kraken.
Pavel Francouz was 1-1-0 with a .938 save percentage and a 1.93 goals-against average, and Alexandar Georgiev was 0-0-1 with a .914 save percentage and 2.93 GAA.
Seattle forward Andre Burakovsky led with four points (two goals, two assists) against Colorado, and five players had two points each.
Philipp Grubauer was 1-0-1 with a .928 save percentage and 1.70 GAA, and Martin Jones was 1-0-0 and made one save in relief Oct. 21.
The Avalanche are led by forward Nathan MacKinnon, who had 111 points (42 goals, 69 assists), and Rantanen (105 points; 55 goals, 50 assists). Defenseman Cale Makar, who hasn't played since April 1 because of an undisclosed injury, had 66 points (17 goals, 49 assists) in 60 games.
"It will be tough, very tough," MacKinnon said. "Those guys work hard. They've given us trouble this season. So we're going to [have to] be at our best to beat them."
Georgiev, in his first season with Colorado after playing his first five with the New York Rangers, was 40-16-6 with a .919 save percentage and 2.53 GAA during the regular season. Francouz was 8-7-1 with a .915 save percentage and 2.61 GAA.
The Kraken are led by forward Jared McCann (70 points; 40 goals, 30 assists), defenseman Vince Dunn (64 points; 14 goals, 50 assists) and forward Jordan Eberle (63 points; 20 goals, 43 assists).
Jones was 27-13-3 during the regular season with an .887 save percentage and 2.99 GAA. Grubauer was 17-14-4 with an .895 save percentage and 2.95 GAA.
The Avalanche have won the Stanley Cup three times (1996, 2001, 2022).
NHL.com independent correspondent Ryan Boulding contributed to this report