DENVER — As one Seattle icon said on the occasion of another exhilarating, groundbreaking playoff series win, more than a quarter century ago:

It just continues.

The Kraken’s joy ride moves on, given a new tank of gas with Sunday’s unfathomably tense 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche. Playoff hockey, that trendy new venture in Seattle, remains on center stage. In the spirit of “The Double” by Edgar Martinez, we now have “The Save” by Philipp Grubauer — or more accurately, 33 of them by the Kraken goalkeeper to tear the heart out of the Avalanche, time after time.

The Kraken can put aside their razors — those playoff beards will keep growing for another couple of weeks, pending the result of their upcoming second-round series with Dallas. When the Kraken and Avalanche met for the handshake line that marks the end of every playoff series, no matter how chippy — a wonderful and enduring tradition — it was Colorado that bore the mournful faces of a team that will have an entire offseason to mull over what went wrong in Game 7, and the losses that preceded it.

For a team that won the Stanley Cup last year, it’s a shocking turnaround. And for Seattle, a team that hadn’t even played its first game two years ago, it’s just as stunning of a triumph.

“It’s amazing. It’s a great feeling,” Kraken forward Yanni Gourde said. “So proud of this group. We battled so hard, especially as a second-year team in this league. Just making the playoffs is an accomplishment. We battled so hard all year long, but getting the win here in Game Seven showed how much character, how much care we have for one another, how much belief we have in this locker room in this group.”

In a series that awakened Seattle to the wonders of playoff hockey — and reminded the hockey world that the Kraken are now more than just an expansion oddity — they did the improbable. Some would even deem it the impossible: Knocking out the defending Stanley Cup champions with three road wins.

At least it may have seemed an impossible task for the Kraken going in. By the time these teams squared off at Ball Arena on Sunday night, it was glaringly evident that Seattle was playing the Avalanche on virtually even ground.

“Incredible,” Grubauer said. “It means a lot to the organization and this team, and obviously for the people that have written us off earlier in the season or since the start. Here we are. And it’s been great.”

And it was just the sort of fingernail-chewing spectacle you’d expect for a Game 7 with playoff survival on the line. Seattle jumped ahead 2-0 in the second period with a pair of goals in a four-minute flurry, then held on for dear life. Colorado scored on a power play with just 28 seconds left in the second period — the only penalty in the entire game for either team — then had an apparent tying goal early in the third period waved off when Seattle successfully challenged that the Avalanche were offside.

“I knew before he scored it was offside,” Grubauer said, straight-faced, then grinned and rolled his eyes. “No, obviously that’s a huge point in the game. If they tied it up, maybe it’s a different game.”

It’s impossible to overstate the tension of the last few minutes, as the Kraken desperately tried to put in an insurance goal — facing an empty net for the final 1:45 or so — and the Avalanche tried even more desperately to tie the score and extend their season. Neither was achieved, but for Seattle it didn’t matter. The lead, agonizingly, held strong.

In a series rife with story angles and subplots — alleged cheap shots perpetrated by each team, off-ice drama, injuries — it was good, old-fashioned down-and-dirty hockey that mesmerized most thoroughly. And Sunday was deliciously nerve-racking.

They say nothing plays better in the NHL postseason than a hot goalie, and Grubauer was positively scalding. Stout the entire series, he was nothing short of brilliant Sunday to turn back a steady onslaught of shot attempts by his former team.

“I think Grubi was amazing. In this game, he was nothing short of amazing, honestly,” Gourde said. “He was our rock back there. He was making saves all over the place, and sometimes he didn’t see (the puck), and was still making saves. He deserved that win.”

Kraken coach Dave Hakstol put it more succinctly: “Our goalkeeper was the best player on the ice.”

It was Grubauer who almost single-handedly kept the Avalanche from seizing momentum early, which would have been a dark turn for Seattle considering how Colorado took control of Game 6 in the final two periods. Avalanche fans were just bursting to explode in the first period as attempt after attempt was turned back by Grubauer. As it turned out, their most robust cheer came when the final score of the Panthers-Bruins’ game was put on the big screen.

The 0-0 score after one period was a major victory for the Kraken, who seemed to have attained new energy when play resumed. For the seventh consecutive game they scored first, a psychological and strategic boost that’s immeasurable.

Seattle came in with 14 players having scored, and the egalitarian mindset was expanded with two goals in the second period, both by one of few players who previously had yet to score: Oliver Bjorkstrand. So make it 15 players scoring — and counting.

As the Kraken whooped it up in one of the backrooms afterward, you could hear someone yell, several times, “How do you like them apples?”

It was a rhetorical question, though Hakstol spoke to what the series win meant in a historical perspective.

“This was the first playoff series that our franchise played in, and I don’t know if the guys will speak to it or not, but I know that especially the guys who were here last year will take great pride in that. They take great pride in the building blocks in terms of the franchise and in terms of hockey in Seattle.

“But more importantly, it just comes down to winning a series at the end of the day, right? Today was about winning a playoff series. Colorado was great tonight. They pushed us in every way you can imagine.”

But it’s the Kraken who push forward in the playoffs, eager to see what new chapters of history await them.