Gourde, Kraken rally past Avalanche in OT

DENVER --Yanni Gourde scored 1:24 into overtime for the Seattle Kraken, who rallied for a 3-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Sunday.

During a line change by the Avalanche, Gourde received a stretch pass from Vince Dunn and beat Alexandar Georgiev short side from the left circle.
"I didn't see much of the net honestly. [Georgiev]'s a great goalie, he challenged shots a lot," Gourde said. "I didn't see much. Just felt that shooting low blocker was my best option."

Alex Wennberg and Brandon Tanev also scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves for the Kraken (36-21-6), who swept a four-game road trip.
Seattle is in third place in the Pacific Division, two points behind the Los Angeles Kings for second, and two ahead of the Edmonton Oilers.
"We're happy with the two points," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "We had to really stay with it, had to get a little bit better throughout the game. I got a ton of respect for [the Avalanche]. They're outstanding. They're playing on a back-to-back, so we had to find a way to take advantage of that, just in terms of overall energy as you go through the hockey game."
Nathan MacKinnon scored his 25th goal of the season, and Georgiev made 32 saves for the Avalanche (34-21-6), who have lost three straight.
Colorado, which lost 7-5 to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday and 7-3 to the Dallas Stars on Saturday, are third in the Central Division, four points behind the Minnesota Wild.
"I didn't like our game tonight again," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "You could say, 'Well it was improved from giving up seven,' but I would hope so. It was tough sledding tonight energy-wise. Mentally, it looked like we were fried. I didn't think our top guys had a very good night at all."

Tanev tied it 2-2 at 17:30 of the third period, scoring with a one-timer from the left hash marks after Jaden Schwartz intercepted a chip attempt from MacKinnon behind the net.
"He's got a lot of speed, plays hard," Schwartz said of Tanev. "He's good at reading the play a little bit and finding those pockets, and he's had a lot of good chances. Tonight was no different, he just stuck with it."
MacKinnon gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 9:19 of the first period when he collected a loose puck in the right circle, stopped on a dime, and beat Grubauer glove side.
MacKinnon has scored 12 goals in his past 13 games.
"We let it go at the end there, but I thought we played hard," Avalanche forward Andrew Cogliano said. "Another back-to-back, another team waiting rested for us. At the end the day, I thought we played hard all night, and too bad we didn't get the extra point."

Wennberg tied it 1-1 at 9:52 of the second period, redirecting Will Borgen's one-timer from the blue line over the blocker of Georgiev.
Denis Malgin put Colorado back in front 2-1 at 11:45 when he shot low glove side on a breakaway.
"We need guys scoring at times and we need big goals, and he's done [that]," Cogliano said. "He's scored a couple big goals for us. We need depth in those moments, especially in tight games and as we go down the stretch here."
NOTES:Dunn extended his point streak to six games (two goals, six assists). … Since returning from an upper-body injury on Dec. 31, MacKinnon is second in the NHL with 40 points (17 goals, 23 assists) in 27 games. Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers is first during that span with 50 points (20 goals, 30 assists) in 27 games.