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Cale Makar scored a goal and had two assists, Valeri Nichushkin scored a goal, and Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen each had two assists for the Avalanche (21-15-0), who have won three straight and seven of their past nine games. Mackenzie Blackwood made 17 saves.
“The evolution of ‘Kivi’s’ game, though, goes back to early last year,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “He started really digging in on his game and trying to do more on the offensive side of it, be more comfortable with the puck, and play with the puck more instead of just chip and chase all the time. He’s still very responsible that way, but he started to spend a lot of time with [assistant coach] Ray [Bennett] on video and trying to take his game to another level and be more effective and more impactful on the offensive side of it.”
Jared McCann and Kaapo Kakko each scored a goal for the Kraken (15-19-2), who have lost five straight, including 6-2 at the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. Joey Daccord made 24 saves.
“I kind of liked how we stuck with it the whole game long,” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said. “You got to stay in the fight, stay in the whole way, and it’s a good team there, obviously. I think we gave them one or two many chances.
“I think a lot’s been said. There’s a lot of searching from the group, from the guys, going on, and we didn’t want to use the last two games as [a] throwaway and get to the break. We wanted to take some growth as a team in these two games, and I think the effort that we put in tonight is considered growth for our group.”
Makar scored to make it 1-0 Colorado with a power-play goal at 10:05 of the first period. His wrist shot from just inside the blue line found its way through Nichushkin’s screen in front.
“When he plants himself in front of the net, it’s fun for me at least because I can try and shoot it at him or shoot it around because he’s got such a good stick too,” said Makar. “So that one, I was definitely shooting for his stick, but he was such a good screen…”
