Bjorkstrand scores twice, Grubauer makes 33 saves, Kraken win Game 7, 2-1 over Avalanche

DENVER - The standout depth of the Seattle Kraken conquered the star-powered attack of the Colorado Avalanche to send the defending Stanley Cup champions home early.

Oliver Bjorkstrand scored a pair of goals, Philipp Grubauer had one of the best games of his Seattle tenure with 33 saves and the Kraken knocked off the Avalanche with a 2-1 victory in Game 7 to advance to the second round for the first time in franchise history.

Seattle won a challenge for a missed offsides call that negated a would-be tying goal for Colorado less than three minutes into the third period. It was a goal the Avalanche wouldn't find a second time.

The Kraken are the first team to eliminate the defending Stanley Cup champions in the first round of the playoffs since the Vancouver Canucks defeated the St. Louis Blues in six games in 2020.

"It's amazing. It's a great feeling. So proud of this group," forward Yanni Gourde said. "We battled so hard, especially as a second year and in this league and just making the playoff is an accomplishment. We battle so hard all year long, but getting the win here in Game 7 showed how much character, how much care we have for one another. How much belief we have in this locker room in this group."

Bjorkstrand was the 15th different player to score for the Kraken in ther series as their depth won the battle against the Avalanche's trio of stars in Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar. Colorado didn't get a single goal from any of their bottom six forwards in the series.

"I think it says it all about our team," Bjorkstrand said. "It's this depth. Every line can score on every given night, defensemen, forwards, whatever. So that's how we have success as a team and something we got to keep striving for."

Bjorkstrand's two second period goals provided all the scoring needed while Grubauer delivered one of the best performances of his Seattle career to blunt the Avalanche attack and carry Seattle to its biggest victory ever against his former team.

"It means a lot," said Grubauer, who spent three seasons in Colorado before joining the Kraken last year. "We're ending their season and beating the defending Stanley Cup champions. So there's more to come for our group, but that's only series one."  

Knocking out the defending champs certainly didn't come easy for the Kraken.

Grubauer was on the wrong end of a firing squad of Avalanche in the opening period. Colorado got 16 shots on net as Grubauer was tested time and time again. Rantanen and MacKinnon each had prime looks off one-timers and MacKinnon had another clean look from between the circles that was denied by Grubauer to keep the game scoreless through 20 minutes.

It took until Game 6 for the Avalanche to out-shoot Seattle in the opening period. They followed it up with an even more lopsided effort on Sunday. After being out-shot 13-10 in Seattle in Game 6, it was a 16-6 disparity in the opening period in Denver.

"I think Grubi was amazing. In this game, he was nothing short of amazing, honestly," Gourde said. "He was our rock back there. He was making saves all over the place, and sometimes he didn’t see [the puck], and was still making saves. He deserved that win."

In addition to Grubauer's efforts, the Kraken blocked 29 shots on the night defensively to keep additional chances from reaching the net.

"Huge," Grubauer said of the blocks. "I mean they had so many chances. Not just this game but over the last couple of games right in the slot or on the power play. I think we did an amazing job with how many penalty kills we had to kill off here of blocking shots and guys sacrificing their body and putting everything on the line and that's what we need moving forward and that's what we needed this series to make a difference here."

Jaden Schwartz had a good look in the opening minutes. Eeli Tolvanen was denied by Alexandar Georgiev off a strong forecheck effort from Gourde. Morgan Geekie was denied a chance at a rebound in front of the net as well. But overall, the Kraken were on their heels throughout the period as they absorbed the attack of Colorado.

Then as they've done in every game in the series, the Kraken scored first. Bjorkstrand backhanded a shot from beneath the goal line that deflected off the stick of Alex Newhook, off the shoulder of Ben Meyers and into the net over Georgiev for a 1-0 Seattle lead.

Four minutes later, Tolvanen chipped a puck ahead for Bjorkstrand on a breakaway chance and he beat Georgiev with a laser off the right post for a two-goal Kraken lead.

"Game 7. I didn't want to go out not being able to sleep at night because I didn't perform well," Bjorkstrand said. "I felt like I tried to give it a push. ... Some nights you just kind of feel the puck better and I just feel like this was one of those nights."

Colorado kept getting chances that Grubuaer kept finding a way to keep out of the net. An Evan Rodrigues chance was slightly fanned on and stopped. A Rantanen chance clanged off the far post and out. Another prime look between the circles for MacKinnon was stopped.

"I don't know," an exhausted Gourde said when asked how they kept MacKinnon somewhat in check throughout the series. "That line was unbelievable. He's an unbelievable player. The way he skates up the ice. You've got to respect every time he takes a stride he's taking five feet off of you. It's crazy but yeah, we defended him as a unit of five. Everyone knew where he was."

Vince Dunn was then called for a holding penalty as he tackled Denis Malgin to the ice with 1:50 left to play in the period which served as the first penalty for either team. Seattle had killed off 16-of-17 penalties in the series against Colorado's sixth-best power play unit in the league from the regular season. But Seattle's good fortunate on the penalty kill ran out. MacKinnon ripped a slap shot from the left circle that slightly deflected off Rantanen for a power play goal that cut the Seattle lead to 2-1 with 27.3 seconds left in the period.

It was Rantanen's seventh goal of the series for the Avalanche.

MacKinnon appeared to tie the game just 2:37 into the third period. A slap shot cleanly beat Grubauer as Ball Arena erupted for the tying goal. However, the Kraken challenged the goal for offsides and Artturi Lehkonen was indeed across the blue line before the puck as the goal was negated.

It's the second straight game Seattle has got a goal overturned due to an offsides challenge. 

"That's a huge point momentum wise in the game with that goal being disallowed early in the third period," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "They had no doubt on it. … They nailed it. That is not an easy task and they had it immediately."

Makar went to the ice with a little over four minutes remaining with no penalty called for a possible trip on Seattle, which drew the ire of Avalanche fans eager for another power play chance for their home run hitters.

Jamie Oleksiak got a big block on a Logan O'Connor chance to deflect the puck wide of the net. As play rolled the opposite way, Georgiev got caught 20 feet out of the net after a missed poke try only for Seattle to be unable to find the net. Bjorkstrand caught a post with two minutes left that would have netted him a hat trick and served as an additional dagger for Seattle.

It ultimately wasn't necessary.

Georgiev left the net with 1:45 left to play and Seattle got a clearance that went for an icing with 44.5 seconds left. Rodrigues got one shot chance on goal with Georgiev pulled that Grubuaer saved for his final stop of night. The puck came back out to center with under 20 seconds left and the Kraken closed out their first series win in franchise history.

"Winning is more fun than losing, right? Let's just be honest," Hakstol said. "We get the chance to move on and go to Dallas, right? And that's the biggest thing. You come into this series with a single goal in mind. I'm happy for our players.

"I want our guys to enjoy this, you know, and they should. We know It's going to be a quick turnaround but we'll get to that tomorrow. So, you know, enjoy the work that they put in. Enjoy the success."

The Kraken will face the Dallas Stars in the second round with the series beginning at 6:30 p.m. PT in Dallas on Tuesday. Game 2 will be on Tuesday with a time yet to be determined. The rest of the dates for the series are also to be determined.

Notes:

– It was the first Game 7 for a major professional sports team in Seattle since the Supersonics lost Game 7 of the 1997 Western Conference Semifinals in the NBA. It's the first Game 7 win since the Sonics beat the Utah Jazz to advance to the NBA Finals in 1996.