DENVER — The road has come to an end for the Avalanche.
Colorado was bounced from the NHL postseason Sunday night in a 2-1 defeat to the Seattle Kraken, denying a shot at defending a Stanley Cup championship.
As they did in every game in the opening-round series, the Kraken scored the first goal when Oliver Bjorkstrand struck early in the second period in Game 7.
Less than 4 minutes later, Bjorkstrand added another when he beat Colorado goaltender Alexander Georgiev high-glove side to give Seattle a 2-0 advantage.
Colorado clawed back with a goal that was credited to Mikko Rantanen. The Avalanche also scored what appeared to be an equalizer early in the third period before a Seattle challenge overturned the call for offsides on Artturi Lehkonen.
The Avalanche conclude the season as Central Division champions with a 51-24-7 overall record.
"You have to play your best hockey in order to win the series," Colorado head coach Jared Bednar said. "We played hard, but we didn't play our best for seven games."
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