DENVER — Blowing kisses to the crowd after they’d just sucked the air out of the building epitomized the Thursday-night fright thrown the Seattle Kraken put into the defending Stanley Cup champions and their stunned fans.
But the Avalanche falling behind by two early Brandon Tanev and Eeli Tolvanen goals, coupled with the prospect of dropping both home games to start this opening-round series, were clearly jolted into desperation mode by the second period. They scored twice just 48 seconds apart to tie the game, then went on to a 3-2 victory in Game 2 when Devon Toews capped a third period flurry with a rebound goal to give the Avalanche their first lead of the night and series.
The Avalanche had won a key faceoff in the Kraken’s end — something they did most of the night — and after an initial Philipp Grubauer save on an Arturri Lehkonen shot, Toews gathered in the rebound and fired a 27-foot wrist shot past Grubauer with 7:01 to go in regulation time.
