Avalanche defeat Kraken in Game 6, push West 1st-Round series to limit

SEATTLE -- Artturi Lehkonen scored twice, and the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche stayed alive in the Western Conference First Round with a 4-1 win against the Seattle Kraken in Game 6 at Climate Pledge Arena on Friday.

The best-of-7 series is tied 3-3. Game 7 is at Colorado on Sunday.
"Gutsy road win," forward Mikko Rantanen said. "It's just one game now, winner takes it all, and I think our group, hopefully the experience is going to help us."

Rantanen had a goal and an assist, Devon Toews had three assists and Cale Makar two assists. Alexandar Georgiev made 22 saves for the Avalanche, the No. 1 seed from the Central Division.
"The intensity level we had right from the start, I think we played simple and we were skating. We were relentless," Rantanen said. "That was the first time we did it for three periods. We were just relentless on the puck and off the puck, support everywhere on the ice."
RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Kraken series coverage]
Vince Dunn scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 35 saves for the Kraken, the first wild card in the West and in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in their second season as an expansion team.
The Kraken won Games 4 and 5 with a relentless forecheck but spent most of Game 6 trying to get out of their own end.
"We let them come at us a little bit too much," Dunn said. "We were not good enough as a whole slowing them down on our forecheck, just a little disconnected, and when you give them space and time, they are going to make plays."
Colorado defenseman Bowen Byram appeared to open the scoring off the rush at 14:31 of the first period, but Seattle challenged for offside and video replays showed Evan Rodrigues was ahead of the puck crossing the blue line because of a check by Alex Wennberg.

Instead, Dunn give Seattle a 1-0 lead at 15:48 by skating into a one-timer inside the top of the left face-off circle that went in off Georgiev's blocker.
Rantanen tied it 1-1 at 19:40, tapping in his sixth goal of the series at the side of the net after Grubauer stopped a high Toews one-timer from the top of the left face-off circle and Rodrigues quickly knocked the rebound from the top of the crease over to Rantanen alone on the backdoor.
"It was a little bit of a chaotic period, but we were in a good spot with a one-goal lead and that's a tough goal to give up right at the end," Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. "We got caught on a back check and Rantanen beat our guy coming off the bench and beat him to the net."
Erik Johnson, who didn't have a goal in 63 regular-season games, put Colorado ahead 2-1 at 7:21 of the second period with a shot from between the top of the circles that deflected off the stick of Seattle forward Eeli Tolvanen in the high slot and skipped past the glove of Grubauer. It was his first goal since May 23, 2022, in the second round of last season's playoffs.
"I'm at a point in my career I'm trying to do whatever I can to help the team win, if that's put a goal in the net, if that's blocking a shot, if that's making a big hit, you got to adapt your game and evolve," Johnson said. "[Scoring] was once a thing I was a little bit more known for, but not so much anymore, but help the team anyway and to chip in a goal feels good."

Lehkonen, who helped win a puck battle in the corner that led to Johnson's goal, made it 3-1 at 16:57, deflecting a Toews slap pass past Grubauer's right pad from the top of the crease.
Colorado outshot Seattle 14-4 in the second period.
"I thought we played a lot on our heels tonight," Kraken forward Jordan Eberle said. "We didn't really play with pressure, and obviously a good team like that, they play with desperation, they are going to come at you in waves. We kept trying to find a spark and couldn't. We played a little too timid and you have a team on the brink, they are going to play with a lot of desperation."
Makar, back after serving a one-game suspension in Game 5 for interference on Seattle forward Jared McCann in Game 4, had an assist on Lehkonen's first goal. He added another assist when Lehkonen scored into an empty net with 12 seconds left in the third period for the 4-1 final.
"I feel like anytime we've had adversity this year, we've kind of just looked it in the face and said we're going to just take it one step at a time and go right at it," Makar said. "Huge character win for us and hopefully it gave a lot of guys confidence."
NOTES:The Kraken are the first team in NHL history to score first in their first six playoff games, surpassing the Toronto Arenas, who scored first in their first five playoff games in 1917-18. ... Rantanen (41 points; 18 goals, 23 assists in 34 games) became the second-fastest active player to reach 40 road points in the playoffs (Sidney Crosby, 33 games). … Makar (49) passed Sandis Ozolinsh for the most playoff assists by a defenseman in Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques history, most multiassist games by a defenseman (nine) and tied Ozolinsh for the most multipoint games by a defenseman in franchise history with 14. … Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson missed the game after re-aggravating a lower-body injury in the second period of Game 5 that caused him to miss the final 23 games of the regular season. … Dunn was the 14th Kraken player to score in the series. … Colorado finished 0-for-5 on the power play and is 1-for-17 in the series (5.9 percent). Seattle was 0-for-3 with the man-advantage and is 3-for-21 (14.3 percent).