Seattle’s Oliver Bjorkstand scored with 32 seconds left Thursday night to stun the Avalanche in a 4-3 victory at Ball Arena.
It was Bjorkstand’s second goal of the game, and it led to Colorado’s first home loss of the season. It’s also the first time the Avs (8-4-0) have lost a game this season while scoring at least one goal. Beyond the team’s fourth loss in six games, the Avs also lost forward Artturi Lehkonen to injury after he took a hit along the boards.
Multiple players and coach Jared Bednar were happy with the team’s overall effort despite the loss, but the focus of their concern postgame was with Lehkonen.
He left the game in the second period after a collision with Jamie Oleksiak. The 6-foot-7 defenseman played the puck into the corner with one hand on his stick, and then Lehkonen took the worst of the hit, going face-first into the boards. There was no penalty on the play, and none of the Avs players on the ice confronted Oleksiak about the incident.
Lehkonen skated off the ice with some assistance, but did not return to the game. A team official said Lehkonen was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation as a precaution, but he was alert, responsive and had full movement. Bednar didn’t have any further updates after the game, but he did say he didn’t think it was a penalty on Oleksiak after watching a replay of the sequence.
“I haven’t heard too much yet on him, but hopefully everything goes well,” Cale Makar said. “Obviously, he’s a huge part for us. It was just an unfortunate (play).”
Colorado had trailed for nearly 34 minutes Thursday night when Valeri Nichushkin deflected a Devon Toews point shot past Seattle goaltender Philipp Grubauer with 7:45 left in regulation. The Kraken had led by two goals twice, but Nichushkin’s second tally of the season leveled the score at 3-3.
Nichushkin missed practice Wednesday and the morning skate to be with his wife, who gave birth to their daughter, Anna.
It looked like the goal was going to earn Colorado at least a point, but Bjorkstand made a play behind the Avs’ net to get the puck into the slot and then he popped out to the right of goalie Ivan Prosvetov to be the hero.
“I thought we played hard,” Bednar said. “We made some mistakes, but I thought we played hard and we played harder as the game went on. … We weren’t perfect — never going to be — but I thought we did a nice job.”
Bjorkstand gave Seattle a two-goal lead early in the second period on a weird play. He and Lehkonen collided and fell to the ice near the top of the Avs’ zone, but Bjorkstand was able to get up quicker and that left him wide open in the high slot to receive a pass from Oleksiak and score.
Bednar left his top line on the ice after being scored on, and defenseman Bo Byram scored 28 seconds later. Lehkonen started the sequence with an outlet pass to Nathan MacKinnon, and he fed Byram for the goal on a 2-on-1.
Matty Beniers restored Seattle’s two-goal advantage midway through the second with a power-play goal after Colorado was called for too many men on the ice for a second straight game.
There was very little going right in the second period for the Avs, but one moment of magic from MacKinnon and Cale Makar pulled them back within one late in the period. MacKinnon found a soft spot in front of the Seattle net, and Makar found him for the center’s sixth goal of the season.
After the Avs controlled the first part of the opening period, the Kraken were the better side for several minutes before breaking through with the first goal. Makar tried to flip the puck out of danger from his own zone, but a savvy play from Vince Dunn got Seattle back in business while the Avs were trying to change personnel.
Jaden Schwartz took a drop pass from Tye Kartye and wired a shot from the right circle past goaltender Ivan Prosvetov with 1:21 left in the period. It was the ninth straight game Seattle has scored first against Colorado, dating back to the playoff series last season between the two clubs.
“For us, we’re happy with the last two games,” Cogliano said, including a win Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils. “We have shown what we are about. We know that when we play the way we have in the last couple of games, we are going to win a lot of games.”
Footnotes: It was Hockey Fights Cancer night at Ball Arena, and the Avalanche dedicated the home broadcast booth in Peter McNab’s honor. McNab, who had been a television analyst for the franchise since it arrived in Denver in 1995, passed away Nov. 6, 2022, after a lengthy battle with cancer.
