Brandon Tanev blows kiss to crowd after giving Kraken 2-0 lead over Avalanche in Game 2

Credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports

Seattle Kraken forward Brandon Tanev gave the crowd at Ball Arena in Denver a special greeting after scoring to put his team up 2-0 over the Colorado Avalanche late in the first period of Thursday’s playoff game.

Tanev blew a kiss to an Avalanche fan sitting in the front row after he sniped a shorthanded goal past Alexandar Georgiev at the 13:27 mark of Game 2.

The ever-photogenic forward now has seven goals and 11 points in 33 career NHL playoff games but remains in search of his first Stanley Cup, having arrived in Pittsburgh two years after the Penguins won back-to-back championships. Tanev joined the Kraken from the Penguins in the 2021 Expansion Draft.

💋💋💋

pic.twitter.com/tsUVGE3Tep

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) April 21, 2023

For now, the Avalanche are the ones feeling the love from their hometown fans: Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin have both scored in the second period to tie the game at two. The Avs would undoubtedly love to tie the series, as well, having dropped Tuesday’s Game 1 by a 3-1 score.

Of course, the Avalanche are the reigning Stanley Cup champions. They’ve been here before. But the upstart Kraken have shown surprising spunk in their debut playoff appearance, very much looking the part of a contending team in Game 1 (and early in Game 2).

One additional wrinkle: Philipp Grubauer, Seattle’s starting goaltender, previously played for the Avalanche between 2018 and 2021. He stopped all but one of the 35 shots he faced on Tuesday to give the Kraken their first-ever playoff series lead.

It remains to be seen whether the Kraken will be able to carry a 2-0 cushion into Game 3, which will be contested at Climate Pledge Arena on April 22. One thing’s for certain, however: it’ll be the first Stanley Cup Playoff game hosted in Seattle since 1920 (and the first playoff game of any kind held there since 1924).