Kiviranta Posts Hat Trick to Help Avalanche Beat Kraken 5-2, Win Third-Straight Game

Sweeping Seattle

The Avalanche beat the Seattle Kraken 5-2 at Ball Arena on Sunday. With the win, the Avalanche completed a three-game series sweep of the Kraken and improved to 21-15-0 on the season. Joel Kiviranta posted his first-career regular-season hat trick, Valeri Nichushkin scored in his fourth-straight game, while Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon each recorded three points.

How It Happened

Scoring his 11th goal of the season, Makar put the Avs on the board first with a power-play tally at 10:05 of the first period via a wrist shot from the point through traffic.

"I think for us right now, we have that attack mentality," Makar said about the power play. "And everybody's shooting, everybody's working [the puck] around, there's nobody just holding on to it. So when guys do that, and guys feel spots, it's really fun to be out there."

Seattle tied the game when Jared McCann scored from the doorstep off the rush at 17:55 of the opening frame.

Kaapo Kakko gave the Kraken a 2-1 lead with a right-circle shot at 4:01 of the second period, but that lead wouldn't last long.

Just 11 seconds later, Nichushkin tied the game with his 11th goal of the season from the right doorstep, finishing the rebound created by MacKinnon's shot off the rush.

The Avs took a 3-2 lead at 12:01 with a Finnish connection when Mikko Rantanen set Joel Kiviranta up for a right-circle one-timer on a two-on-one rush.

"Obviously we all know he's a great passer," Kiviranta said about Rantanen. "When I saw that he was on a two-on-one with me, I knew he was going to at least try to pass it to me."

Kivranta tallied his second of the night with an empty-net goal from the neutral zone at 17:26 of the third period. That goal was his ninth of the season, setting a new career high.

At 18:28 of the third, Kiviranta completed a natural hat trick, scoring his 10th goal of the season with an empty-net tally from the top of the right circle.

Next Up

The Avalanche face the Utah Hockey Club in Salt Lake City on Friday at 7:30 p.m. MT on ESPN2.