Avalanche Game 3 Recap: Payback

With two road wins under the team's belt, the Colorado Avalanche finished off their three-game road trip against a very familiar foe: the Seattle Kraken. As we recall, the Kraken's breakout sophomore season included a stunning playoff series victory over the then-defending champion Avs in seven games, and as soon as the schedule was released, every Avalanche fan (myself included) had this date circled on their calendars.

The game started off very shaky for the Avs; shots were 3-0 in Seattle's favor very early, though it did seem like Colorado was getting back on track as far as shooting the puck. The first power play went to the Kraken, but the Avalanche power play put the kibosh on it. What they couldn't put the kibosh on was Kailer Yamamoto's shot, as it went in past Alexandar Georgiev. This was too familiar of a sight for the Avalanche. Seattle scored first in all seven games of that series last year. I dare say that Seattle has scored the first goal in the last nine or ten meetings. Yikes. 1-0 was the score in Seattle's favor after 20 minutes, and it was not a good opening frame for Colorado.

Second period saw things start to improve for the Avalanche, doing so after killing a penalty to start the frame. The Avalanche were set to get a power play of their own, but on the delayed penalty (which was only delayed for about two seconds), Arturri Lehkonen tied the game, his first goal of the season in his second full season with Colorado. However, the discipline still wasn't there, as the Avs found themselves shorthanded once again. This time, a big answer came in the form of Logan O'Connor, who broke away and put in a go-ahead shorthanded goal, with defensemen Cale Makar and Devon Toews getting the assists. The rest of the penalty was killed off, and after two periods, the Avalanche took the lead.

The third period was a bit more of the same; Seattle attempted to get something going offensively, as the goal they scored in the first period was only their third this season. Georgiev continued to stop everything, and as for Colorado's offense, Mikko Rantanen netted his third of the season. Later on, Seattle pulled Philipp Grubauer for the extra attacker, but all that did was result in Valeri Nichushkin shooting it into the empty net. The Avalanche won, 4-1, sweeping the road trip.

While Georgiev's 37 saves were the top highlight, a very close second has to be Logan O'Connor's entire night. He got things started with a fight against Jordan Eberle, and there is a story behind it. It was in Game Six of that series that Eberle delivered a dirty hit that took out Andrew Cogliano, a hit that Eberle wasn't even punished for, yet Makar's hit got him a suspension despite many saying it was clean. So this fight was the Avs letting Eberle know, "We haven't forgotten." O'Connor had a fight and a shorthanded goal, finishing an assist away from a Gordie Howe Hat Trick.

The Avalanche are 3-0 to start the season, with the last two wins coming after giving up the first goal of the game. The penalty kill has been perfect so far, and Georgiev has been lights out, boasting a GAA of 1.30 to start the season. Next up is our long awaited home opener against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.

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