3 Keys: Kraken at Avalanche, Game 7 of Western 1st Round

Seattle can become 1st team to eliminate defending Stanley Cup champion in debut playoff series

Western Conference First Round, Game 7

Best-of-7 series tied 3-3

9:30 p.m. ET; TNT, SN, TVAS, ALT, ROOT-NW

DENVER -- The Seattle Kraken and Colorado Avalanche each expect to win Game 7 of the Western Conference First Round at Ball Arena on Sunday.

The Kraken are in their second season as an NHL expansion team and first series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Avalanche are the defending Stanley Cup champions.

No NHL team has won its first playoff series against a defending champ, but Kraken coach Dave Hakstol didn't sound like an underdog after the morning skate.

"Our guys coming into this series weren't just happy to get into this series," Hakstol said. "We had expectations as well. …

"Our guys have earned the right to play under this type of a scenario and play with this pressure. They've earned that right, so Game 7, pressure on, pressure off, does it really matter? It's Game 7. Let's go."

The series has been back and forth, with Seattle taking a 1-0 lead, Colorado ahead 2-1 and Seattle leading 3-2.

The Kraken have scored first in each game and won two of three in Denver. The Avalanche are coming off their best performance of the series, a 4-1 victory in Game 6 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

"We're excited," Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen said. "It's obviously Game 7. We're really ready to go here. We've lost two home games out of three, so we've got to do the things we do on the road."

Here are 3 keys for Game 7:

1. Depth vs. elite talent

The series has lived up to its billing as a battle of depth vs. elite talent.

The Kraken have 14 goal-scorers, and that's without a goal from forward Jared McCann, who led them with 40 goals in 79 games in the regular season, and forward Andre Burakovsky, who had 13 in 49.

McCann (upper body) has been out since Game 4. Burakovsky (lower body) hasn't played since Feb. 7.

The Avalanche have nine goal-scorers. Though the Kraken have no one with more than two goals, Colorado has three with at least two: Rantanen (six), Nathan MacKinnon (three) and Artturi Lehkonen (three). They played as a line in Game 6, with Lehkonen scoring twice and Rantanen once.

"Those guys, they were able to dictate a lot throughout the game, so we'll have to do a better job there tonight," Hakstol said.

2. Power play

Each team has scored 12 goals at 5-on-5 and one short-handed goal in the series.

The Kraken are 3-for-21 (14.3 percent) on the power play after tying the Calgary Flames and Carolina Hurricanes for 19th in the regular season (19.8 percent). The Avalanche are 1-for-17 (5.9 percent) after they were sixth (24.5).

Colorado had a couple of Grade A chances in Game 6, with Rantanen hitting a goal post and forward J.T. Compher getting robbed by the right pad of goalie Philipp Grubauer.

"I think we've just got to stay with it," Rantanen said. "Our percentage is not good, but I think with a little better luck and just a little more focus on the goal-scoring side, I think we're going to break through."

3. Goaltending

Each goalie has allowed 16 goals in the series.

Grubauer, who played for Colorado from 2018-21, has a 2.68 goals-against average and .919 save percentage for Seattle. He seems comfortable at Ball Arena and knowledgeable about his former teammates' tendencies.

"He's been awesome for us -- big timely saves," Kraken forward Jaden Schwartz said. "You can tell he's dialed up and he's in the zone where he needs to be, so all the confidence in him in the world."

Avalanche goalie Alexandar Georgiev has a 2.69 GAA and .913 save percentage.

"I think he's been solid throughout the series," Rantanen said. "That's what you need from a goalie, and he's been excellent."

Kraken projected lineup

Tye Kartye -- Matty Beniers -- Jordan Eberle

Jaden Schwartz -- Alex Wennberg -- Morgan Geekie

Eeli Tolvanen -- Yanni Gourde -- Oliver Bjorkstrand

Brandon Tanev -- Ryan Donato -- Daniel Sprong

Vince Dunn -- Adam Larsson

Jamie Oleksiak -- Will Borgen

Carson Soucy -- Justin Schultz

Philipp Grubauer

Martin Jones

Scratched: Cale Fleury, Jaycob Megna, Jesper Froden, Chris Driedger

Injured: Andre Burakovsky (lower body), Joonas Donskoi (upper body), John Hayden (lower body), Jared McCann (undisclosed)

Avalanche projected lineup

Artturi Lehkonen -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen

Evan Rodrigues -- Lars Eller -- J.T. Compher

Matt Nieto -- Alex Newhook -- Logan O'Connor

Brad Hunt -- Ben Meyers -- Denis Malgin

Devon Toews -- Cale Makar

Jack Johnson -- Bowen Byram

Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson

Alexandar Georgiev

Pavel Francouz

Scratched: Kurtis MacDermid, Keith Kinkaid, Valeri Nichushkin (personal)

Injured: Darren Helm (lower body), Josh Manson (lower body), Andrew Cogliano (neck)

Status report

Seattle is expected to use the same lineup from Game 6. ... Colorado coach Jared Bednar said Cogliano got a CT scan Saturday that revealed a fractured C5 lamina in his neck and he will be out for the remainder of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Hunt, typically a defensemen, could replace him at forward.