Avalanche-Kraken Game 5 quick hits: Nathan MacKinnon’s rage justified after handful of missed calls

Instant reaction from the Avalanche’s 3-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken in Game 5 of their first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series.

1. Four blind mice?

We’re not going to say the zebras have been making stuff up this as they go, but … oh, to heck with it. We will. Darn straight, we will. Nathan MacKinnon gets tripped by Will Borgen at center ice late in the first period and no call? After Jack Johnson got two minutes in the sin bin for contact that looked far more incidental? MacKinnon finally let his rage flag fly with about 9:50 left in the second stanza, when he appeared to be on the receiving end of another Borgen trip — this one near the boards as the two got their skates tangled. No. 29 was so steamed that he slammed his stick in frustration, and 10 seconds later, Seattle’s Tye Kartye fired a snapper into an open net — Georgiev was screened by Josh Manson — to put the visitors ahead again, this time by a 2-1 score.

2. 15% slower at everything

With 16:43 left in the second, defenseman Devon Toews and a handful of teammates lost a loose puck in the crease in front of a leaning Georgiev. A year ago, maybe it gets shoveled or kicked out of danger. In the 2023 playoffs? Toews did a pirouette of nearly 180 degrees and couldn’t find the biscuit. Unfortunately, Seattle’s Morgan Geekie saw it first and poked it past Georgiev for the first goal of the night. With 4:34 left in the second, Artturi Lehkonen, Captain Clutch, had what appeared to be a helpless Philipp Grubauer prone in front of him on a delicious 2-on-1 after taking a laser feed from MacKinnon to the left of the crease. It was blocked by the sole Kraken defender, Jamie Oleksiak. Been one of those nights. And one of those series.

3. Another slow start

The Avs have given up the first goal and the first penalty in each of the first five games of this series. With 6:24 left in the tilt, Colorado was one for its first 12 on the power play. It felt as if the Avs were doing the Kraken’s job for them by taking the amped Ball Arena crowd out of the tilt right from the start. Per NaturalStatTrick, the two teams combined for an average of 14.3 combined scoring chances in Games 1-4. The Avs and Kraken totaled just six in Game 5’s first stanza.

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