Kraken steel themselves for first-round test against defending champion Avalanche

The Seattle Kraken have their own plans. How boring it would be, after all, to serve as a footnote in the story of the Colorado Avalanche’s NHL title defense.

Seattle forward Eeli Tolvanen has an idea what that feels like. He and his Nashville Predators were swept out of the first round by the Avalanche as they rolled toward last season’s Stanley Cup championship.

Nashville tried to fight another day, even leading during the third period of Game 4. But star-laden, fast-skating Colorado wasn’t to be denied last spring.

“They had a really good regular season. They have some top dogs,” Tolvanen said. “But you know, you have to go through everybody if you want to go far in the playoffs.”

Seattle has a healthy respect for the defending champs, right winger Jordan Eberle said.

But the Kraken fought to be here, too.

“They did it last year. But it’s a new year,” said goaltender Philipp Grubauer, who played for the Avalanche for three seasons but left for Seattle before the 2022 Cup run.

“New playoffs. The cards get mixed.”

Grubauer has an intimate – if somewhat outdated, he was quick to insist – scouting report, having faced much of the Avalanche core in practice daily. He said he texted Colorado goalie coach Jussi Parkkila, a holdover from Grubauer’s three seasons in Denver, a week ago, when it was still very much undecided whom Seattle would be playing in the first round.

He had a feeling, though.

“See you in Colorado soon,” he recalled sending. He sent the same thing once it became official Friday night, when the Avalanche defeated the Predators 4-3, won the Central Division and secured a first-round tussle with Grubauer’s new team.

“Highly skilled. For sure they have a couple guys in there who can make things happen,” Grubauer said. “Probably not the heaviest, most physical game in the league, but I think we match up really well against them. We play a similar style.”

Seattle won the regular-season series, with the road team taking each game. All three were decided by a goal or less.

“Those were hard-fought battles,” Tolvanen said. “But the playoffs are a different animal.

“Every hit, every block matters. I think that’s fun.”

Kraken coach Dave Hakstol didn’t name a Game 1 starting goaltender, but Grubauer looks like the one, with twice as many starts since the All-Star break and a presumably cleaner bill of health. Martin Jones, who carried the Kraken through a much-improved first half of the season, left a game April 8 against the Chicago Blackhawks and just returned to practice Saturday. Fellow goalie Joey Daccord was reassigned to make room.

Winger Andre Burakovsky, who recently had surgery to address a lower-body injury, was ruled out of the series against his former team. Fourth-line winger Daniel Sprong missed Saturday’s practice and Hakstol described him as day-to-day.

Defenseman Justin Schultz was also missing, but Hakstol said that was just a maintenance day.

Avalanche superstar defenseman Cale Makar – who has 66 points in 60 games – hasn’t played since April 1. However Colorado coach Jared Bednar recently said he wasn’t worried about the defending Norris Trophy winner’s playoff availability.

The Kraken aren’t arriving early to get used to the altitude, a popular talking point in Colorado. Hakstol said they were planning to fly into Denver “as late as possible,” or Monday afternoon, before Tuesday’s Game 1 (7 p.m., ESPN).

The Avalanche locker room has done it all, together, with a handful of new additions. This will be Seattle’s playoff debut as a franchise, but the Kraken have members of each of the past seven Stanley Cup-winning teams.

“It’s the first time this group has been in the playoffs together. But if you look at the experience in our room that we have to fall back on, it’s significant,” Hakstol said.

The Kraken took the first wild-card spot with a 46-28-8 record and a 40-point improvement from their inaugural season. They quickly showed this season wouldn’t be the same slog. But they slowed down somewhat as their first-round opponent was heating up.

Time to summon what made them successful, and dethrone the champs.

“It’s one thing to get here,” rookie Matty Beniers said three days before his NHL playoff debut. “It’s another thing to make something out of it.”