One: Keep up the homecoming parade

There’s no getting around it: The Kraken have not been good at home against the Avalanche. Overall, counting their first-round playoff matchup two springs ago, the Kraken are 2-5-1 against Colorado at Climate Pledge Arena. Both home victories were by a lone goal, the playoff one coming in overtime. Conversely, the Kraken are 6-2-0 when facing the Avs at Ball Arena, including victories in three of four playoff contests there.

So, some better home play would seem in order. The Kraken overall as a franchise haven’t played that well at home up to now, though they’ve won their last two Climate Pledge contests. Players are aware it’s been an issue in years past. Fixing it could well make the difference between going to the playoffs or staying home.

Two: More Mon-TouRISM on defense

How good was Brandon Montour the other night against Calgary? Well, besides assisting on the winning Jordan Eberle goal, Montour logged 26:02 of ice time – more than any player on either team and nearly six minutes greater than any other Kraken defender.

Montour was up ice, down ice and touring all four corners of the rink. His 6:23 of power play time equaled Eberle for the most by any player on both teams and his six shots on the night matched Nazem Kadri of the Flames for the game’s high total.

And with top-pairing defender Vince Dunn still out for the Kraken, a repeat Montour performance here sure wouldn’t hurt.

Three: Know your opponent

What’s wrong with the Avalanche? Well, two straight wins coming in have eased concerns over an 0-4-0 start in which they got scored on a whopping 25 times. But those victories came against the not-so-mighty Anaheim Ducks – after being down two goals — and San Jose Sharks, so this patient being cured of what ails it is still up for debate.

Colorado goaltender Aleksandar Georgiev has been awful, posting a save percentage of .811 and a goals against average of 4.99 while allowing a league-worst 9.9 more goals than “expected” based on shot quality according to MoneyPuck. We should also mention the Avs have been without Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen, Jonathan Drouin, Devon Toews and yet again captain Gabriel Landeskog with that long term knee condition. Put it all together, this isn’t the same group as in years past. At least, not yet.