The winner will advance to the Western Conference Second Round and play the Dallas Stars, who defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-1 in Game 6 on Friday to win that best-of-7 series.
The Avalanche won 4-1 in Game 6 in Seattle on Friday to even the best-of-7 series.
"It's just one game now, winner takes it all," Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen said. "I think our group, hopefully the experience is going to help us. I think we had some tough games last year, and even this game today, maybe this can give us a little boost. But we know they're going to come. They already won two in our building, so we've got to do everything we can to limit their game and take advantage of the home crowd."
Colorado (51-24-7), the No. 1 seed in the Central Division, would host Dallas (47-21-14), which finished second. Seattle (46-28-8) is the first wild card in the West and would start on the road.
The Avalanche are 4-8 in Game 7 (4-3 at home) since relocating to Colorado from Quebec for the 1995-96 season and have lost their past five Game 7s, including three in overtime. They have not played a Game 7 since a 5-4 overtime loss to the Stars in the Stanley Cup Second Round in 2020, which was played in Edmonton during the coronavirus pandemic. Colorado's most recent Game 7 win was a 1-0 victory against the San Jose Sharks in the 2002 Western Conference Semifinals.
Andrew Cogliano has played the most Game 7s among active Avalanche skaters with six (1-5), and Lars Eller has played five (2-3). Nathan MacKinnon is 0-3 and doesn't have a point in Game 7.
Goalies Alexandar Georgiev and Pavel Francouz have not played a Game 7.
Colorado coach Jared Bednar is 0-2.
"I think sometimes you can get caught up in the hoopla]," Cogliano said. "I think it's good we have a veteran team here. We have experience. I think we'll push towards playing the same way we did tonight. I think we outworked them most of the night, and that's the job we've got to do at home."
***[RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Kraken series coverage]*
Seattle will be playing its first Game 7 in its second NHL season.
Jaden Schwartz is 4-0 in Game 7, all with the St. Louis Blues. Justin Schultz is 3-0, and Jordan Eberle is 1-2.
Philipp Grubauer is 0-1 with a 3.11 goals-against average and .889 save percentage in Game 7. Martin Jones is 3-0 with a 1.82 GAA and .931 save percentage.
Seattle's Dave Hakstol has not coached a Game 7.
"A new opportunity for this group," Eberle said. "We've been a good road team all year; it's been a strength of this team, so we have nothing to lose. Go out there and give it our best effort."
There were five Game 7s in the 2022 first round, with the home team winning four of them.
NHL.com columnist Nicholas J. Cotsonika and independent correspondent Kevin Woodley contributed to this report
