Don’t let the 7-3 final score fool you. This one was over after 40 minutes of play.
On Friday night, the Colorado Avalanche hit for six goals in the first two periods of their game with the Kraken in Seattle.
They added the seventh early in the third period before Seattle’s offense kicked in three lipstick goals for the final.
Andre Burakovsky and Cale Makar each hit for doubles in the Avs.
“Just trying to get the legs back and making sure that I can contribute every night for the team,” Makar said. “That’s what I want to be, obviously. I know this isn’t going to happen every night where you get two goals, but at the same time, we’re creating those chances and that’s what’s giving us opportunities to get those goals.”
Darcy Kuemper made 25 saves for Colorado in the win.
Burakovsky (power play) and Valeri Nichushkin (shorthanded) gave the Avs a 2-0 lead.
“The shorthanded goal has a way of taking the wind out of your sails for sure,” Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol said. “We got back to it and stayed with it at that point in time. You know, we dug ourselves a hole, but it didn’t feel like there was a real sag in terms of the mentality on the bench.”
Erik Johnson scored to give the Avs a 6-0 lead after two periods, and Nicolas Aube-Kubel added a marker early in the third for the 7-0 lead.
“I was calling for it, it was a little bit ahead of me, but great players make adjustments, right?” Johnson said. “It was a great play. I didn’t score on [Grubauer] in four years of practice. So, somehow I scored on him tonight.”
Jordan Eberle (power-play), Brandon Tanev (power-play) and Colin Blackwell scored in the third to make the final a little more respectable on paper.
“There’s only one way out of it and that’s to keep grinding,” Hakstol said. “That’s to stick together and got to find a way to dig out a win and all of a sudden the weight comes off and things head in the right direction. We didn’t do that tonight. That’s disappointing for everybody. But you have a choice. You have a choice to make in 
Chris Driedger got the start for the Kraken and nine saves, yielding four goals into the second period. He was given the hook in the frame.
Philipp Grubauer iced the remainder of the game and made 14 saves in a mop up role against his former team.
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