THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: A rough welcome to playoff hockey in Seattle

CR-AAAACK!

That was the sound of playoff hockey truly swamping Seattle and the whole Northwest.

It was a booming echo as the Kraken’s star, 40-goal scorer Jared McCann, crashed head-first into the end wall at Climate Pledge Arena.

McCann was planted there on Monday night by Colorado’s Cale Makar, the Norris Trophy winner as the NHL’s best defenseman.

This time, though, Makar did not make one of his slick passes or timely goal-saving plays.

Instead, it was pure forearm violence with McCann defenseless and the puck out of play.

The crowd of 17,151 howled in anger as McCann was helped off the ice and a five-minute major penalty was assessed to Makar.

Then, inexplicably, the officials changed Makar’s penalty to a mere two minutes for interference.

The absurdity of THAT call was underlined Tuesday, when the NHL suspended Makar for tonight’s game Game 5 in Denver.

If fans in this part of the country were in any doubt about the passion of playoff hockey, well …

Greetings!

At least there was a slightly satisfying conclusion.

Jordan Eberle slapped home a power play rebound three minutes into the extra period, giving the Kraken a 3-2 victory that tied this first-round Stanley Cup series at two games apiece.

SURE, THE crowd went bonkers on Eberle’s goal, but nobody — definitely not any Kraken player — was forgetting McCann’s injury.

Nor were they buying Makar’s explanation that he thought the puck was still live and McCann was chasing it into the corner.

In fact, McCann’s shot in the first period had deflected off the stick of goalie Alexandar Georgiev and into the protective netting high above the ice.

Kraken coach Dave Hakstol was still livid about the whole sequence of events after the game, even as he announced that McCann would not travel to Denver for tonight’s game, and could be out “considerably longer.”

It’s routine that NHL teams disclose almost nothing about injuries, so we are left to guess if McCann suffered a concussion, a neck injury or something else.

But it was obviously serious enough that Hakstol didn’t expect to see his top scorer back on the ice anytime soon.

In any case, the coach was extremely upset — both at Makar’s play, and then the change from a five-minute major penalty to just a couple minutes for interference.

Media and players alike all wondered, privately, if Makar’s background and generally good previous conduct was the reason for changing the penalty.

In any event, Hakstol wasn’t having it.

“It goes immediately out of play and straight up into the netting,” Hakstol said.

“And I believe the puck is being caught by a fan as [McCann] is being run into the end wall.

“So, a late hit. Really late. No puck in play. And like I said, our 40-goal scorer not available for the rest of the game.

“And (he’s) not going to be available going forward here.”

Besides winning the game, which is always the ultimate payback, the Kraken played angry all the way.

They registered a franchise-high 51 hits on every Avalanche player they could find.

Seattle also had a 42-22 advantage in shots on goal.

NOW, THE shorthanded Kraken must try to win a series in which they were already distinct underdogs, even with McCann taking his regular shifts on the first line.

Naturally, they will be booed vociferously by the fans in Denver’s Ball Arena tonight — and again in Game 7, if the series goes that far.

The Kraken certainly won’t lie down, however, even though the going will be rough.

The defending Cup champions are not interested in being ousted by a second-year expansion team in the first round.

The battle is on, with Makar’s hit on McCann hanging over the proceedings.

“Well, it’s the playoffs,” Hakstol said.

“You get into the meat of the series, you get into the middle part of a series here, that intensity continues to rise.”

The Kraken are no strangers to adversity.

They lost winger Andre Burakovsky, who was leading the team in scoring, to a lower body injury on Feb. 9, and he hasn’t returned.

Now they’ll have to dig in without McCann.

“You lose a big piece of your team, and that obviously hurt us,” Eberle said.

“But I think the identity of this group that we have over here — it’s been our depth.

“And we’ve had guys step in all year long.”

They’ll have to do it again, and somehow try to win another game in Denver.

They’ll be home for Game 6 on Friday, though, and Cale Makar is not likely to get a standing ovation.

Welcome to playoff hockey.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”