DENVER – A pregame callup of forward prospect Ryan Winterton was just the start of some lineup shuffling and message delivering for a road trip finale his new Kraken teammates, and especially their head coach, badly wanted to win.

But that didn’t happen as the Kraken fell behind throughout Tuesday night’s 6-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche and eventually could not keep coming back. Despite the Kraken finally scoring some goals, they nonetheless returned home from this five-game road trip, having lost four straight and seven of their last eight overall to send their record tumbling to 5-8-1.

Matty Beniers deflected home a Brandon Montour shot with 2:29 to go in regulation to draw the Kraken back within a goal. But Mikko Rantanen scored his second of the night into an empty net just 24 seconds later to ice it with Philipp Grubauer pulled for the extra attacker.

Then, with Grubauer back in, Nikolai Kovalenko added a sixth Colorado marker with just under two seconds to play.

While it’s still a bit early to be concerned about the optics of the team’s win-loss record, Kraken coach Dan Bylsma clearly hoped to generate positive momentum at Ball Arena after being shut out in consecutive games.

“I think there’s a clear expectation for the team,” Bylsma had said after his team’s morning skate. “I don’t think anyone thinks we’re at our best yet. And we haven’t given our best 60 minutes yet through 13 games. In particular, the last couple.

“And that goes for the team, and that goes for the players,” he added. “I think everyone in there should feel that way.”

Bylsma then showed he wasn’t messing around, inserting Winterton and rugged forward John Hayden into the lineup while sitting Oliver Bjorkstrand and Tye Kartye. The defensive pairings were also reconfigured with Brandon Montour moving up to join Adam Larsson while Jamie Oleksiak and Will Borgen were reunited in addition to Cale Fleury replacing Josh Mahura.

“Yes, we’re looking for (Winterton) and John (Hayden) to come in and add a little of that compete, a little of that bite to our lineup and to our team mentality,” Bylsma said of a crew that had didn’t register a shot on goal against Boston their prior game until more than 17 minutes had elapsed.

And the Kraken in this one, at least initially, responded to their new coach’s challenge. Jaden Schwartz scored the first Kraken goal in nearly seven periods with a re-direction of a Beniers shot about 13 minutes in, followed by Jared McCann tying things 2-2 on the power play just 23 seconds into the middle frame off a Chandler Stephenson pass.

But the Kraken continued to fall behind as the game progressed, with Arturri Lehkonen regaining Colorado’s lead just six minutes later. The Avalanche then went ahead by two when Rantanen scored on a nice passing sequence midway through the period.

The Kraken initially got that goal waved off by successfully challenging that the initial zone entry was offside – which it clearly was. But the Avalanche alertly challenged that decision, claiming the puck had entered the zone as the result of a missed Kraken shot that rimmed all the way around the boards behind Colorado’s net and then traveled back down the ice into the visiting team’s end.

After plenty of delay, the play was reviewed as well, and the goal stood.

It was a play that ultimately decided the game and symbolized how the tail end of the trip went for a Kraken team that had entered with a 3-1-0 record in this building and a 6-2-0 mark if counting games from their opening-round playoff victory over the Avalanche two springs ago.

But after scoring eight times in an initial blowout win over Montreal to start this trip, they managed just one goal total in the next three losses. This fourth consecutive defeat again saw the Kraken fall behind early, with Chris Wagner putting the second Colorado shot of the game behind Grubauer just 2:28 in.

Then, after Schwartz tied it on the first Kraken even-strength goal in nearly 10 periods dating back to the victory over Montreal, the Avalanche regained the lead just under two minutes later. Grubauer had dived atop a loose puck, attempting to smother it in a pile of players, only to have it squirt loose as his helmet was simultaneously knocked off. Ivan Ivan was there to fire the loose puck into the net to put the Avalanche back in front.