Avalanche star Cale Makar becomes unlikely villain after hit on Kraken’s Jared McCann
Climate Pledge Arena’s first public hockey enemy No. 1 was an unlikely candidate.
Avalanche superstar Cale Makar put a late and hard-to-watch hit on sole Kraken 40-goal scorer Jared McCann, who left Game 4 after 3:38 of ice time and didn’t return. It was initially called a major, but officials downgraded it to a minor for interference to the disbelief of the home crowd.
“They felt there was a puck in play at the battle,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said.
“I disagreed with that, obviously, as I looked at it live, and for sure looking at it after(ward).”
The Kraken’s Daniel Sprong scored on the ensuing power play, but that wasn’t enough justice for those in the stands. The Kraken faithful enthusiastically booed Makar when he hopped over the boards, every time he touched the puck and sometimes just because they didn’t like the look of him.
The better payback came when Jordan Eberle scored through Makar during an overtime power play, sealing a 3-2 Kraken victory and sending the best-of-seven series back to Denver tied at two games apiece.
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They’ll be without McCann. Hakstol ruled his top-line winger out for Game 5 and “probably longer than that.”
“I believe the puck is being caught by a fan as ‘Canner’ is being run into,” Hakstol said. “Late hit. Really late. No puck in play.”
Never in the Kraken’s short history has a visiting player inspired this type of venom.
Makar, among the top handful of defensemen in the league, is far more likely to go viral for his gravity-defying edgework than his goonery, and his trophy case is more impressive than his rap sheet — which is nonexistent. He hasn’t been fined or suspended at the NHL level.
He famously talked a referee out of awarding his team a power play in December because he wasn’t tripped — he just fell. He is usually the picture of team-first humility and seems almost embarrassed by all the attention he gets.
Makar is the defending Norris Trophy winner, awarded “to the defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-around ability in the position.” He’s also the 2022 Conn Smythe winner, or playoff MVP, as a crucial part of the Avalanche’s Stanley Cup championship run last spring.
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He became the first player booed for breathing in the Kraken’s home arena. About 8:20 into Game 4, McCann, the Kraken’s regular-season leader in goals (40) and short-handed goals (3), cruised in looking for another scoring chance on the penalty kill with Makar hot on his heels. Colorado goaltender Alexandar Georgiev deflected the puck high and out of play. McCann watched its trajectory and slowed down, facing forward and in a vulnerable position as he came around the curve of the boards.
Makar said after the game he wasn’t sure where the puck was headed.
“I know he got the shot off. And then I was just assuming he was going to the corner, because it was coming down. So I didn’t really look,” he said. “And then, yeah, just unfortunate how it happened.”
Makar twisted and shoved McCann into the glass. McCann’s head appeared to be part of the initial contact with the boards. McCann fell on his back, then crouched on his hands and knees.
“It’s unfortunate. I never want to injure guys. Hopefully he’s all right,” Makar said. “At the end of the day, I didn’t feel like I tried to finish him that hard. But, I mean, I feel like if I was in that scenario they would have done the exact same thing.
“So I’m not trying to hurt anybody. It’s just unfortunate. Tough bounce. And they got the call right. That’s all you can ask for.”
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A trainer saw to McCann for several minutes and eased him to the bench with help from Kraken teammate Brandon Tanev. McCann headed straight down the tunnel and didn’t play another shift.
Any Kraken player who laid the body on Makar the rest of the game received an appreciative roar. No one squared off with Makar or anyone else, but the Kraken put 51 hits on the Avalanche, the most of an already physical series.
Kraken center Yanni Gourde did start shoving with Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson in front of the Colorado bench and was sent down the tunnel for the first intermission to a chorus of “Yanni! Yanni!”
Makar later put the Kraken’s Oliver Bjorkstrand in a headlock behind the Avalanche net. That one may have just been to keep the peace. The Climate Pledge Arena crowd couldn’t have cared less.
Vancouver Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers might have been the first despised opponent at CPA, as his own shove away from the play — also an interference penalty — led to Matty Beniers’ concussion. The Kraken rookie missed the All-Star Game. But that happened the during the Canucks’ last visit to Seattle, so Kraken fans won’t get to take a bite out of Myers until the fall.
In both instances, the timing made it worse. The hit on Beniers was days before the All-Star break, and the Kraken badly needed McCann’s lethal shot as they trailed the defending champions 2-1 in the first-round series.
They found a way without him, for him.
“When you see a guy go down like that, as a teammate, it’s frustrating. You want to do what you can for him,” Kraken winger Jaden Schwartz said.
Source: The Seattle Times
