In Denver, Eeli Tolvanen scored the first playoff goal in Seattle Kraken history on Tuesday night in a 3-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche in the opener of their first round series in the Western Conference Stanley Cup Playoffs. 
Philipp Grubauer made 34 saves for the win.
“It’s definitely a weird feeling coming back but also like really familiar,” Grubauer said. “I played with those guys in a couple of playoff series, so yeah, there’s nothing better than playing against your old team in playoffs.”
Tolvanen scored in the opening stanza to give the Kraken a 1-0 lead.
“It’s a good way to start a game, get the puck deep,” Kraken forward Yanni Gourde said. “Every line was doing it, get the puck deep, get on the forecheck, hit a few guys. And then when we got a chance, (Tolvanen) put the puck behind the goalie and it was a great start to the game. It’s huge. Scoring the first goal it’s always big in the playoffs.”
Colorado replied with a goal from Mikko Rantanen to knot the game, 1-1, coming out of the first.
“I didn’t like our execution. That was probably the first thing that stood out to me,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “Just sloppy from our group a little bit. I like some of the intensity that we played with at times, but I would say they won more than their fair share of races to pucks and probably won more than their fair share of battles for pucks too.”
Alex Wennberg scored 80 seconds into the middle frame to give the Kraken a 2-1 advantage.
“It’s great. We played a good game, getting the first franchise win in playoffs, but right now this is Game 1,” Wennberg said. “Obviously, we are happy about this performance, but we’ve got to do it again and do it again, so it’s a good start and feeling for sure.”
Grubauer stumped the Avs in the middle frame, when they had their best chances.
“Not our best execution tonight but still had plenty of chances, lots of good looks, just a little disconnected,” Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon said. “We definitely created enough, just that little bit of execution wasn’t there.”
Morgan Geekie scored early in the third to extend the Kraken lead to 3-1.
“The belief in the team is that we can play really, really hard and right now you can see the team effort right here,” Wennberg said. “Everyone working for each other and goaltending is doing great, and this is something we can do every day.”
Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves in the loss.
“Yeah, for sure,” Georgiev said. “The guys are mentally tough, so I’m sure we’ll shake it off and learn from their mistakes and be better next game.”
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