Avalanche Game 12 Recap: 32 Seconds

The Colorado Avalanche won a crazy outing against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, and next up for the Avs was the Seattle Kraken. This was the second meeting of the season; the Avalanche defeated Seattle, 4-1, at Climate Pledge Arena. This outing was in Ball Arena, and the last time these two teams were at that very venue was on April 30, 2023--the night that the Avalanche were eliminated in Game Seven in the opening round.

Ivan Prosvetov was in net for the Avs against Philipp Grubauer, with the former looking to improve to 2-0 this season. The Avs' first shot came very early, and it was a quiet first period for the most part. No penalties during the entire 20-minute frame, but we did see a goal. It was Jaden Schwartz--very late in the first period, which ended with the Kraken up 1-0. The second period saw Oliver Bjorkstrand (remember that name) making it 2-0 for Seattle, but less than half a mintue later, Bowen Byram put Colorado on the board.

The assists came from Nathan MacKinnon and Arturri Lehkonen, but the latter would be taken down and taken out later in the game. Seattle had a power play during the frame, their second in the game. The first PP was killed off, this one wasn't. Matty Beniers, who ran away with the Calder Trophy last year, made it 3-1 for Seattle. Avs had a power play, and it was a mess. Nothing was going right and it was easily killed off. However, moments after the power play ended, MacKinnon cut Colorado's deficit in half wiht his sixth of the season. Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen assisted.

It was 3-2 after 40, and once the third started, my thinking was that the Avs needed to get aggressive and act fast. It took a while; the Avs were knocking, but nothing was going in. Finally, at 12:15, something broke through. Valeri Nichushkin deflects Devon Toews' shot, and just like that, the game is tied. My thought after that goal was scored: "We didn't do this in the playoffs against Seattle." When the Avs fell behind in games in that series, we kinda gave up. This time, Colorado was answering. It looked like the overtime was looming. There was two minutes left. Then one minute. And then...we were all stunned.

Bjorkstrand did the thing again. With 31.9 seconds left, Bjorkstrand put it in for the second time in the game. This is the same player who put in both of Seattle's goals in that Game Seven last year. Avs pulled Prosvetov, of course, but while the shots were there, nothing came of them.

So we have three negative firsts for the Avalanche this season. This was the team's first loss of the season, this was the first loss that wasn't a shutout, and it was the first loss in a game where Nathan MacKinnon scores. MacKinnon's continuing to do his thing; had a goal and two assists in this go-around, and has five points in his last two games. Even so, the Avs are in a bit of a slump. Since starting 6-0, the Avs have lost four of six. We tend not to believe in playing more than three periods; in 12 games, the Avs only went to overtime once--the game vs San Jose. Our power play needs to improve. At the moment, the Avs PP is 21st in the league, though we make up for it with an amazing penalty kill. The Avs PK is fifth in the league, and our four shorthanded goals gives us a share of the lead in that category with the Flyers and the Hurricanes.

The Avalanche's three game home stand will conclude on Saturday against the St. Louis Blues. After that, Colorado will head to Seattle on Monday to close out the season series against the Kraken.

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