The Seattle Kraken won Game 4 against the Colorado Avalanche on a game-winning goal by Jordan Eberle with less than three minutes into the overtime session by a final score of 3-2. Seattle has this series tied at 2-2 with Colorado.
The Kraken are in their first postseason experience in their second year as a franchise in the NHL. The Avalanche were just Stanley Cup Champions a season ago and they are being battle-tested right out of the gates.
During the regular season, the Seattle Kraken went 2-0-1 against the Colorado Avalanche and it is also showing in this series why they gave them fits during the regular season. Many people thought that Colorado would be a pencil-in for the second round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, but they are on the ropes in this series.
One of the things that could potentially decide this series is how long Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar is suspended for. He should have been given a five-minute major in the game last night for injuring Jared McCann on the boards, but it was rescinded to a two-minute minor.
Here is the hit: https://twitter.com/morning_skate/status/1650696385929396224
Also, here is the update from the NHL: https://twitter.com/NHLPlayerSafety/status/1650846098431377415
Seattle Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol mentioned that Jared McCann will be out for the rest of the series. He was a 40-goal scorer for them during the regular season. McCann is a huge part of this lineup, but they have enough depth apparently to replace it.
Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar knows that he could possibly be without defenseman Cale Makar for the rest of this series and could receive either a 2 or a 3-game suspension. It would be a major surprise if he didn't get that and only received a fine.
Nathan MacKinnon will need to raise his game to another level. The other story in this series is that Philipp Grubauer for the Seattle Kraken is playing a little bit better in net for them in this series than Alexander Georgiev for the Colorado Avalanche.
Grubauer has a 2.76 GAA and a .916 save percentage in this series so far and Georgiev has a 2.99 GAA and a .908 save percentage in this series so far. Alexander Georgiev is not what they had in net a season ago with Darcy Kuemper guarding the net also.
The odds are the Seattle Kraken have a great shot to dethrone the defending Stanley Cup Champions the Colorado Avalanche because of that goaltending stuff, although it would come as a surprise to some people. Colorado needs to win this series in six games and they can't afford to get into a Game 7 situation with Seattle.