The Dallas Stars traveled to Washington state, where they took on the Seattle Kraken on Saturday, March 29. The Stars took the victory 5-1 and with it, clinched a spot in the playoffs.
Game Recap
Just a minute into the first period, the Kraken opened up the scoring for the two teams. Andre Burakovsky kept the puck in the Kraken’s offensive zone with a pass to Jared McCann. McCann skated up to the net and took a shot, which was blocked by Jake Oettinger. Eeli Tolvanen picked up the rebound and with a swing, he batted the puck into the net.
Ten minutes later, the Stars tied up the game. Sam Steel stole the puck from Jamie Oleksiak and passed behind the net to Mavrik Bourque. Bourque skated to the front of the net and took a shot. Joey Daccord blocked the first one, but Jason Robertson picked up the rebound. With a second shot, Robertson put the Stars up on the board.
With three minutes left in the first period, Ryker Evans took a seat for slashing Thomas Harley. Less than a minute into the extra-man advantage, Mikko Rantanen sent a pass up the ice for Robertson. Robertson was next to the net, and he spotted Roope Hintz in the center of the ice. Robertson passed to Hintz, and he took a shot, breaking the tie to put the Stars on top of the scoreboard on the power play.
The second period was full of penalties, with the Stars taking one minor penalty and the Kraken taking three. On top of this, Michael Eyssimont and Lian Bichsel each earned a five-minute major for fighting. While the Kraken took more penalties, they also took more shots. Seattle took 11 shots on net compared to Dallas’ six. Regardless, neither team scored, and the score stayed at 2-1 to close the second period.
14 seconds into the third period, Brandon Montour took a seat for a high-stick on Wyatt Johnston. Off the faceoff, Granlund took a shot that was saved by Daccord. The Stars recovered the rebound and Matt Duchene sent the puck across the ice for Mason Marchment. With a shot, Marchment scored the third goal of the night just 14 seconds into Dallas’ power play opportunity.
With seven minutes left in the third period, Rantanen sent a pass in the neutral zone for Johnston. Johnston out-skated the Kraken on a 2-on-1 opportunity. He took a shot when he got up to the net and brought the score to 4-1.
While the Kraken pulled Daccord in an attempt to make a comeback, the Stars took advantage of the empty net. Vince Dunn took a shot on net, which was blocked by Oettinger. Hintz picked up the rebound by the boards and sent it into the neutral zone for Rantanen. While Matty Beniers tried to pressure Rantanen, he made a quick spin move, which caused Beniers to trip over himself. With no one pressuring him, Rantanen took a shot at the empty net to score the final goal of the night. With a score of 5-1, the Stars took the victory here.
Same Place, Same Time
The Kraken will host the Stars once more on Monday, March 31, at Climate Pledge Arena.
