DENVER, COLORADO - APRIL 26: Tye Kartye #52 of the Seattle Kraken celebrates with his teammates after scoring against the Colorado Avalanche in the second period during Game Five of the First Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Ball Arena on Ap …
Tye Kartye scored in his NHL debut in place of an injured Jared McCann and the Seattle Kraken survived a frenzied rally attempt from the Colorado Avalanche to earn a 3-2 victory in Game 5 and take a 3-2 series lead.
The Kraken return home with a chance to eliminate the defending Stanley Cup Champions on Friday night in Game 6.
"We all know in this league the fourth game is the hardest one to get to win. It’s going to take everything out of everyone in this locker room to get that one. So we know that," said Yanni Gourde, whose third period goal served as the game-winning tally.
With the Colorado net empty and an extra attacker on, Evan Rodrigues had a shot deflect off Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak and into the net behind Philipp Grubauer to pull the Avalanche within one with 3:37 left to play. But the Kraken defense held strong with several clearances in the closing minutes. Colorado only got one shot on net over the final three minutes of play as Seattle closed out the win to take the series lead.
"It’s fun. You want to be in those situations, up by one, three minutes to go," Gourde said. "You want to be in those situations obviously and I thought we did a great job leading up to that point. I thought we defended very well, blocked shots. Guys are laying their bodies on the line and it shows and that’s how you win in the playoffs and I think our guys have been doing a great job at that."
The Avalanche offense lacked punch throughout the night with top defenseman Cale Makar suspended for his hit that injured McCann in Game 4. Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and J.T. Compher all played greater than 23 minutes as the absences in the Colorado lineup took their toll.
For the first time all series, neither team managed to score in the opening period. However, the Kraken continued their early dominance despite failing to find the back of the net. Seattle out-shot the Avalanche by a 15-8 margin in the opening frame and had a Morgan Geekie chance ring off the crossbar and an Eeli Tolvanen shot catch the left post.
Alex Wennberg won a puck against the boards from Bowen Byrum to find Jaden Schwartz for a chance. Geekie was then in place to grab the rebound and beat Georgiev between his legs to give the Kraken the 1-0 lead for the fifth straight game.
It took just 80 seconds for the Avalanche to answer. Grubauer misplayed a puck behind the Seattle net as he attempted to rim the puck up the boards was halted by Rantanen. Rantanen's quick shot deflected off Grubauer and a crashing MacKinnon into the net to level the score at 1-1.
"The biggest thing that I can say is he just moved on to the next save and that’s kind of what he’s done all series long and he did it all night long for us tonight," Hakstol said of Grubauer.
Grubauer made 26 saves on 28 shots in the victory for Seattle.
Colorado's frustration then led to Seattle regaining the lead. MacKinnon believed he was tripped by Will Borgen for the second time in the game without getting a call from the officials. He rose to his feet and slammed his stick in anger against the glass well behind the play as Seattle moved forward on the attack.
"I get five feet on a guy and he takes my feet out. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. It’s not 1975; I feel like that’s a trip," MacKinnon said, via Peter Baugh of The Athletic.
MacKinnon added "it's one me there" to keep his emotions in check as the play continued while he complained.
Jordan Eberle took a wide circle behind the Colorado net before firing a pass to a waiting Kartye for a one-time blast cleanly by Georgiev to restore the Kraken lead.
"That’s great instincts for him to be in that spot, to find that space and a great play by [Eberle] to get it to him," Hakstol said. "But he also has pretty good instincts in other areas, kind of the hard areas of the game. On the wall, getting out of the zone, those areas. He’s got pretty good instincts and he’s obviously worked to be comfortable in those situations."
Kartye – the American Hockey League's rookie of the year – was called up by the Kraken on Wednesday to take McCann's place in the lineup. Kartye became the eighth player in NHL history to score a playoff goal in his NHL debut. Ironically, the last to accomplish the feat was Makar in 2019.
"I was just kind of driving the net and I saw he had the puck and tried to get open and obviously [Eberle] made a pretty special pass there," Kartye said.
Kartye, 21, played in 72 games with the Firebirds this season with 57 points on 28 goals and 29 assists. However, Kartye's production has soared in the second half of the season in the AHL. Over his final 36 games with Coachella Valley (since January 20), Kartye racked up 40 of his points with 23 goals and 17 assists.
He flew into Colorado with the Firebirds on Tuesday as they got into Loveland, Colo. to begin their series with the Colorado Eagles of the AHL in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Instead, Kartye got the call up to play in the NHL playoffs instead.
"It’s pretty crazy. It was a whirlwind but I’ve been working hard for a long time and it feels pretty good," Kartye said.
"A year ago, a year-and-a-half ago, this was my wildest dreams. So this day has been pretty special."
Kartye also scored a goal in the only preseason game he played for the Kraken against the Vancouver Canucks back in September.
"It was awesome," Gourde said of Kartye. "All game long he was all over the place. He was in everyone’s grill. He was on the forecheck, on the backcheck. He was great in the D-zone. He finished every hit he had. He came up and played big, big minutes and a great goal by him. To get your first NHL goal in the playoffs in Game 5 or whatever it is is pretty remarkable and my hat’s off to him."
Less than a minute after killing off Eeli Tolvanen's penalty to begin the third period, the Kraken added to their lead. Gourde screened Georgiev in front of the net and tipped a Carson Soucy shot into the net for a 3-1 advantage.
Seattle pushed hard to further extend their lead.
Georgiev stopped a breakaway look from Oliver Bjorkstrand with 12:40 remaining to keep the Seattle lead at just two goals. A backhand chance from Tolvanen with 6:30 left was gloved down by Georgiev. Erik Johnson blocked an Eberle shot on a two-on-one chance and a Schwartz slap shot was also turned away by Georgiev as Colorado fought to stay within reach.
Georgiev had 26 saves on 29 shots for the Avalanche.
Rodrigues blocked an empty net chance with 1:40 left to keep Colorado in it but Gourde came up with a late block and Seattle's defense held strong to secure the win.