Gourde’s OT goal lifts Kraken to 3-2 win over Avalanche

DENVER (AP) – Yanni Gourde scored 1:24 into overtime, and the Seattle Kraken rallied to beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Sunday night for their fourth straight win.

Kraken 3, Avalanche 2 (OT): Stats

Brandon Tanev and Alexander Wennberg also scored for Seattle and Philipp Grubauer stopped 21 shots against his former team.

Alexandar Georgiev rebounded from a rough game in Dallas the previous night with 32 saves, and Nathan MacKinnon and Denis Malgin had goals for Colorado.

The Kraken controlled the puck in overtime and won it when Gourde got a breakaway and beat Georgiev with a low shot for his 10th goal of the season.

IT’S YANNI’S WORLD & WE’RE JUST LIVING IN IT pic.twitter.com/7BHpJgGzCn

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) March 6, 2023

“I didn’t see much of the net,” Gourde said. “He’s a great goalie, he challenged shots a lot. I didn’t see much, just felt that shooting low blocker was my best option.”

It spoiled a bounce-back game for Georgiev. He allowed five goals on 19 shots in a 7-3 loss to the Stars on Saturday and was pulled in the second period but he was sharper Sunday night. Georgiev made seven saves on Seattle’s two-minute 5-on-3 to start the third and 15 overall in the period.

“He played really well. He had some big saves, some timely saves,” Kraken center Jaden Schwartz said of Georgiev. “We had a decent amount of power plays and he made some big ones so we had to just stay with it.”

Colorado managed just seven shots on goal after the second period.

“It was tough sledding tonight, energy-wise,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “Mentally it looked like we were fried. I didn’t think our top guys had a very good night at all.”

The Kraken took advantage of that fatigue to take the season series from the reigning champions.

“I got a ton of respect for this team,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “They’re playing on a back to back so we had to find a way to take advantage of that.”

MacKinnon has points in nine of his last 10 games and leads the team with 74 despite missing three weeks in December with an upper-body injury. His 25 goals are second on the team to Mikko Rantanen’s 41.

MacKinnon gave Colorado the 1-0 lead at 9:19 of the first to extend his goal streak at home to six games.

Georgiev stopped Tanev on a breakaway early in the second but the Kraken tied it on Wennberg’s 12th of the season at 9:52.

2️⃣1️⃣, 2️⃣1️⃣, 2️⃣1️⃣ pic.twitter.com/OvYVBBskkj

— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) March 6, 2023

Malgin put the Avalanche back in front with a breakaway goal at 11:45, his sixth of the season.

Seattle kept the pressure on throughout the third period and finally broke through when Tanev scored at with 2 1/2 minutes left to send it to overtime.

“Obviously, you’ve got to close down the game,” Andrew Cogliano said. “That’s what it comes down to.”

NOTES: Kraken F Andre Burakovsky missed his 13th straight game with a lower-body injury. Burakovsky won the Stanley Cup with Colorado last season. … Avalanche F Valeri Nichushkin was back in the lineup after not traveling with the team to Dallas due to an illness. He assisted on MacKinnon’s goal. … Seattle’s 21 road wins are the most in the Western Conference and third in the NHL

UP NEXT

Kraken: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night.

Avalanche: Host the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night.

Why Seattle Kraken were right to stand pat at NHL trade deadline