Avalanche bend, don't break in Game 6 of Western 1st Round
Overcome early adversity to avoid elimination in win against Kraken
The defending Stanley Cup champions were on the edge of elimination.
But they came back
for a 4-1 win
in Game 6 of the best-of-7 series at Climate Pledge Arena on Friday -- their best performance of the series -- to force Game 7 at Ball Arena in Denver on Sunday (9:30 p.m. ET; TNT, SN, TVAS, ALT, ROOT-NW).
They showed the same determination they did during the regular season, when they were plagued by injuries and sat four points out of the second wild card in the West on Jan. 12. They finished 31-8-4 to win the Central Division.
"It hasn't been perfect this year," Avalanche forward Andrew Cogliano said. "There's been a lot of stuff that's gone on. There's been a lot of moments where we just could have went away.
"During the regular season, January, February, there was moments where you could have turned a blind eye to this season, and we didn't. We kept pushing, won the division, and tonight was no different.
"I think it speaks to the coaching staff, it speaks to the culture here, and it speaks to how we do our business."
RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Kraken series coverage]
A lot of stuff went on in the first period Friday.
The Avalanche thought they had taken a 1-0 lead for the first time in the series when defenseman Bowen Byram fired the puck into the net at 14:31, but the Kraken challenged the play for offside. No goal. The fans roared.
Just 1:17 later, it was the Kraken who struck first yet again when defenseman Vince Dunn scored.
But Colorado didn't buckle. Forward Mikko Rantanen scored his sixth goal of the series with 19.4 seconds left in the first, and the Avalanche went into the locker room for the first intermission tied 1-1.
"I thought we were engaged physically, focused and just on top of it mentally," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "We get a goal. It's called back. They score first. We just stay with it and continue to play with some confidence and skating and puck movement."
Rantanen hit the post on a power play early in the second period. Another bad break.
But then came a good one. Defenseman Erik Johnson fired a shot that hit Kraken forward Eeli Tolvanen's stick and found its way into the net at 7:21, giving the Avalanche a 2-1 lead.
The Kraken had 14 players with a goal in the series. Before Johnson's goal, the Avalanche had eight. They needed their depth players to contribute more, but to get a goal from Johnson?
The 35-year-old hadn't scored since May 24, in a 6-4 win against the St. Louis Blues in Game 4 of the second round last season. Not only had he gone 63 games without scoring in the regular season, he had led the NHL in shots (98) without a goal.
"At my point in my career, I'm trying to do whatever I can to help the team win, if that's putting a goal in the net, if that's blocking shot, if that's making a big hit," Johnson said. "You've got to adapt your game and evolve as the game evolves. That was once [something] I was a little bit more known for, but not so much anymore. But to help the team in any way, to chip in a goal, feels good."
The Avalanche had played from behind much of the series, forcing them to shorten their bench and lean on their top players. Now they had a lead, plus confidence. They skated better, forechecked better, balanced the ice time better, and it snowballed.
Forward Artturi Lehkonen made it 3-1 at 16:57 of the second, redirecting a pass from defenseman Devon Toews at the end of a classic Colorado shift of buzzing in the offensive zone.
The Avalanche outshot the Kraken 14-4 in the second.
"Second period, they tilted the game their direction in terms of they got on top of us with their forecheck, which starts momentum," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "We weren't able to break that enough, so you start defending."
Lehkonen added an empty-net goal at 19:48 of the third.
In the end, the Avalanche outshot the Kraken 39-23. They went 0-for-5 on the power play, making them 1-for-17 in the series, but they drew penalties with their skating, got good looks and generated momentum.
Now they'll have to do it again in Game 7.
The Kraken still have nothing to lose in their first Stanley Cup Playoff series since joining the NHL as an expansion team last season, and they've won twice in Denver already in this series.
"No one said it was going to be easy, and we didn't expect the series to be easy," Johnson said. "To get where you want to go, which is to win the Cup again, there's always adversity, and that's just life. You battle through adversity to reach your goals."
