Nathan MacKinnon scored the lone goal in the shootout as the Colorado Avalanche defeated host Seattle 2-1 Saturday night, knocking the Kraken out of a first-place tie in the Pacific Division.
Alex Newhook scored in regulation and goaltender Pavel Francouz made 26 saves as the Avalanche won their fifth consecutive game, during which they’ve outscored their opponents 23-6. Colorado also swept its three-game trip after 4-1 victories in both Calgary and Vancouver.
Ryan Donato scored for Seattle and Philipp Grubauer made 26 saves against his former team.
MacKinnon scored in the bottom of the second round of the shootout, skating in and slipping a forehander between Grubauer’s pads. Francouz used an aggressive approach, poke-checking the puck away from two of Seattle’s shooters, including Daniel Sprong on the Kraken’s third and final attempt.
The Avalanche opened the scoring at 8:18 of the second period.
Jacob MacDonald’s shot from the blue line through a screen was fought off by Grubauer, who then got his left leg pad on Artturi Lehkonen’s rebound attempt. The puck slid to the bottom of the right faceoff circle, where Newhook corralled it and put a wrist shot into the far upper corner of the net. It was Newhook’s 10th goal of the season.
The Kraken tied it just more than a minute later, at 9:26.
Colorado’s Samuel Girard tried to clear the puck from behind his own net by banking it off the boards, but Donato knocked down the puck, skated into the right faceoff circle and snuck a wrist shot between Francouz’s pads from just outside of the dot.
It was Donato’s 11th of the season and his third in the past two games after tallying twice in a 4-3 overtime victory against New Jersey on Thursday.
Seattle forward Andre Burakovsky, who won the Stanley Cup with Colorado last season before signing with Seattle as a free agent, was a late scratch with an undisclosed injury after taking the pregame skate.
Colorado defenseman Cale Makar, the reigning Norris Trophy winner as the NHL’s best defenseman, also participated in the pregame skate but missed his third consecutive game with an upper-body injury.
–Field Level Media
