The Dallas Stars welcomed the Seattle Kraken to the American Airlines Center on Saturday afternoon. The Stars downed the Kraken 3-1 in a nationally televised game on ABC and ESPN+ and won the Central Division for the first time since 2016. Dallas improved to 51-21-9, while Seattle fell to 33-33-13.
The Stars’ starting lineup featured Chris Tanev, Tyler Seguin, Esa Lindell, Matt Duchene, Mason Marchment, and Jake Oettinger. Oettinger made 26 saves for a win. Meanwhile, the Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves in a losing effort.
The Stars’ mantra was apparently “Better late than never” in the first period.
The Stars scored the game’s first goal against the Kraken in the final seconds of the first period. Craig Smith deflected a shot into the Kraken’s net for a 1-0 lead at 19:57. Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen collected the assists on Smith’s 11th of the season.
The Stars led the Kraken 1-0 at the end of the first period. Seattle outshot Dallas 8-4 after 20 minutes.
There was action on both ends of the ice in the second period. Like in the first period, Radek Faksa drew the period’s first penalty. But the Stars capitalized on the man advantage after the Kraken got a ten-minute game misconduct for running over Jake Oettinger late in the period. Jason Robertson scored a power-play goal on a wrist shot for a 2-0 lead at 19:23. Jamie Benn and Miro Heiskanen collected the assists on Robertson’s 29th of the season.
The Stars led the Kraken 2-0 at the end of two periods. Dallas outshot Seattle 22-16 through 40 minutes.
The Stars opened the third-period scoring. Miro Heiskanen achieved a three-point game with a wrist shot into the Kraken’s net for a 3-0 lead at 12:23. Joe Pavelski and Thomas Harley collected the assists on Heiskanen’s ninth of the season.
The Kraken finally got on the board, but it was pretty much “too little, too late” in the third period. Kailer Yamamoto tipped in a shot to cut the Stars’ lead to 3-1 at 14:11. Tomas Tatar collected the lone assist on Yamamoto’s eighth of the season.
The Kraken led the Stars in shots 11-8 in the third period, but couldn’t get pucks into the Stars’ net to score two goals, tie the game, and force overtime.
The Stars defeated the Kraken 3-1 in regulation. Dallas outshot Seattle 31-27 after 60 minutes.
Notes
Three Stars of the Game
1. Miro Heiskanen (3 points: 1 goal and 2 assists)
2. Jason Robertson (2 points: 1 goal and 1 assist)
3. Kailer Yamamoto (1 point: 1 goal)
Up Next
The Stars will wrap up the regular season with a home game against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday, April 17 at 8:30 p.m. Central.
ITR 39: Conference Finals – Inside The Rink
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