3 Keys: Avalanche at Kraken, Game 3 of Western 1st Round

(1C) Avalanche at (WC1) Kraken
Western Conference First Round, Game 3
Best-of-7 series tied 1-1
10 p.m. ET; TBS, SN, TVAS, ROOT-NW, ALT

SEATTLE --The Seattle Kraken will play their first home game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs when they host the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday.
The Kraken, in their second season as an NHL expansion team, defeated the Avalanche 3-1 in Game 1 at Ball Arena in Denver. They led 2-0 after the first period in Game 2 but lost 3-2.
"I'm sure our guys are looking forward to getting home and having that opportunity to play the game in front of our fans there," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "I hope our fans are fired up for it, because we will be."
The Kraken went 20-17-4 at home in the regular season, earning 44 points, 21st in the NHL. The Avalanche went 29-11-1 on the road, earning 59 points, fourth in the League. Colorado set Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques records for wins, points and winning streak on the road; Colorado was 11-0-0 in its last 11 road games, 15-1-0 in its last 16 and 18-2-1 in its last 21.
RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Kraken series coverage]
The teams met once at Climate Pledge Arena during the regular season, with the Avalanche winning 2-1 in a shootout Jan. 21.
"We've been a great road team this year -- a great road team," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "We finished last year really strong. We've played really well on the road regardless of the environment.
"It's more about what we have to do to have success. I like what we did the last 40 minutes (of Game 2). We'll try to build off that."
Teams that take a 2-1 series lead in a best-of-7 series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs have a series record of 374-165 (.694), including 5-7 (.417) last season.
Here are 3 keys for Game 3:

1. Top players

Seattle's top four scorers during the regular season -- forward Jared McCann (70 points; 40 goals, 30 assists), defenseman Vince Dunn (64 points; 14 goals, 50 assists), forward Jordan Eberle (63 points; 20 goals, 43 assists) and center Matty Beniers (57 points; 24 goals, 33 assists) -- have no points through two games.
Colorado's top four -- center Nathan MacKinnon (111 points; 42 goals, 69 assists), forward Mikko Rantanen (105 points; 55 goals, 50 assists), defenseman Cale Makar (66 points; 17 goals, 49 assists) and forward J.T. Compher (52 points; 17 goals, 35 assists) -- have three. Rantanen has a goal, and MacKinnon and Makar each has an assist.
Neither team has scored on the power play in the series; the Kraken are 0-for-5, the Avalanche 0-for-4.
"I think chances are a lot more limited and harder to come by because it's playoffs, but I think we're doing well," Beniers said. "Definitely could have a few right now, but they're not going in yet. As long as we're helping the team, building momentum and winning, it doesn't really matter."
MacKinnon seems close to breaking through against Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer.
"I am getting good chances, and I am creating, so I just have to trust that my shot will eventually beat him," MacKinnon said.

2. Face-offs

The Avalanche have won 55.8 percent of their face-offs and scored three of their four goals shortly after offensive-zone draws.
"We've just got to be a little sharper on [defensive]-zone face-offs," Kraken defenseman Justin Schultz said. "They've got some really talented players over there that can make some plays."

3. Starts

Seattle jumped on Colorado in each of the first four periods. It scored at 3:26 of the first, 1:20 of the second and 4:03 of the third in Game 1, then at 2:40 of the first in Game 2. Hakstol said he liked the start in the third period of Game 2 as well.
Schultz said the Kraken have to be careful amid the atmosphere of Game 3, though.
"It's been loud all regular season, and tonight I'm expecting it to be crazy," Schultz said. "It's going to be nuts. We want to get off to a quick start, and obviously we are all going to be juiced up from the crowd and being at home, but you can't go over the line, take a dumb penalty or try to do too much."

Avalanche projected lineup

Artturi Lehkonen -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Evan Rodrigues
Valeri Nichushkin -- J.T. Compher -- Mikko Rantanen
Alex Newhook -- Lars Eller -- Denis Malgin
Andrew Cogliano -- Darren Helm -- Logan O'Connor
Bowen Byram -- Cale Makar
Samuel Girard -- Devon Toews
Erik Johnson -- Josh Manson
Alexandar Georgiev
Pavel Francouz
Scratched: Brad Hunt, Kurtis MacDermid, Ben Meyers, Matt Nieto, Keith Kinkaid
Injured: Jack Johnson (lower body), Gabriel Landeskog (knee)

Kraken projected lineup

Jared McCann -- Matty Beniers -- Jordan Eberle
Jaden Schwartz -- Alex Wennberg -- Morgan Geekie
Eeli Tolvanen -- Yanni Gourde -- Oliver Bjorkstrand
Brandon Tanev -- Ryan Donato -- Daniel Sprong
Vince Dunn -- Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak -- Will Borgen
Carson Soucy -- Justin Schultz
Philipp Grubauer
Martin Jones
Scratched: Cale Fleury, Jaycob Megna, Jesper Froden, Chris Driedger
Injured: Andre Burakovsky (lower body), Joonas Donskoi (upper body), John Hayden (lower body)

Status report

Cogliano, who missed the final game of the regular season and first two games of the series with an upper-body injury, participated fully in the morning skate Saturday. Asked if he was OK to play, Bednar said, "We'll see." … Landeskog, the Avalanche captain, skated with his teammates, but Bednar said there is no change in the forward's status. He missed the regular season and is out for the playoffs. … Geekie did not skate Saturday morning, but Hakstol said his absence was just maintenance. Seattle is not expected to make any lineup changes.