After losing the opening game of the best-of-seven semifinals against the Seattle Kraken on Sunday night, the Dallas Stars were the dominant team in game two posting a 4-2 victory over the Kraken last night at American Airlines Arena . That win deadlocks the series at 1-1 as the teams now head to Seattle for a Sunday night tilt at Climate Pledge Arena.
“We didn’t spend enough time in the offensive zone tonight, to be honest with you in terms of generating opportunities,” Dave Hakstol said. “That’s a domino that falls after you are able to gain time in the offensive zone and we didn’t do that tonight. It’s going to be something that’s that’ll be a factor in the series, for sure. And something that we’ll have to continue to address.”
The Stars outshot their guests, 37-27, with ? shots coming in the third period. After Seattle pulled goalie Philipp Grubauer with four minutes remaining, Jordan Eberle took a stretch pass from Yanni Gourde, came down the left wing and wristed a shot past Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger. Eberle had plenty of open ice as Stars’ defenseman Miro Heiskanen went to the bench after breaking his stick. That goal cut the lead in half, but the Kraken were unable to score for the remainder of the contest.
Another recurring problem reared its ugly head for the Kraken. In the faceoff circle, Dallas had a 44-20 advantage on draws. And while the Kraken didn’t go on the power play until there was 6:51 remaining in the contest, (two previous penalties on the Stars were on offsetting penalties) but in the playoffs, Seattle has only capitalized on 14% of their man advantages. The Stars had only power play goal, but consistently kept the puck in the Seattle defensive zone on the PP which carried over to equal strength.
Philipp Grubauer continues to be on fire in the Kraken nets. In the first period, Grubi made Grade A saves on Colin Miller, Max Domi and Jason Robertson of the Stars, as the hosts outshot the Kraken 10-5. Thanks to Grubauer, the Kraken went to the intermission in a scoreless tie. But the Stars took charge in the second period.
The Stars opened the scoring at 3:43 of the second. Miller blistered another drive from the point and Max Domi dug out the puck before Grubauer could cover. Domi passed across to 19-year-old rookie Wyatt Johnston who fired it home. Johnston and the Kraken’s Matty Beniers tied for the NHL lead in goals by a rookie. The NHL announced before that Beniers, but not Johnston, was one of the three finalists for the Calder Trophy presented to the league’s top rookie. Johnston was excluded much to the chagrin of Dallas coach Peter DeBoar.
The Stars made it 2-0 on a nice play from Evgeni Dadonev. The Stars’ forward came down the left wing and when Grubauer came out to stop an attempted shot, Dadonev circled the cage and fired into the open net. Dadonev, who lost the puck to Yanni Gourde just before Gourde fired home Game 1’a overtime winner, was acquired by Dallas at the trade deadline along with Domi to bolster the offense. Tye Kartye gave Seattle some hope when he scored the second playoff goal (and second NHL goal of his career), taking a stretch pass from defenseman Vince Dunn. Dunn who was second in the NHL in stretch (long) passes that led to goals this season,
On their third power play opportunity, the Stars’ finally scored a power play goal. Joe Pavelski, the almost 39-year-old wily veteran, whose becoming a Seattle nemesis in the series scored at 16:37 of the second period off a pass from Johnston. Pavelski had all four goals in the series opener.
GAME NOTES
- Along with Matty Beniers, other Calder Trophy finalists include Buffalo Sabres’ defenseman Owen Power, Beniers’ teammate at Michigan and Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner. All NHL award winners will be announced on June 26 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Beniers, Power and Skinner were the top three vote-getters by the members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association who vote on all the NHL awards.
- The NHL is announcing the finalists for all of their awards this week. Three previous Norris Trophy winners are the finalists for that award presented to the league’s top defensemen. Last year’s winner Cale Makar, Kraken fans least favorite player after his hit on Jared McCann in Round One of the playoffs, is nominated along with .Adam Fox of the New York Rangers and Erik Karlsson of the San Jose Sharks. Nominees for the Frank Selke Award for the best defensive forward are Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins, Nico Hischier of the Jersey Devils and Mitch Marmer of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Lady Byng finalists which goes to the player showing the most sportsmanship are Jack Hughes of the Devils, Andre Kopizar from the Los Angeles Kings and Braydon Point of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
- *Dallas has won the last five Game 2’s of a series after losing Game 1. They lost to Minnesota in double overtime in the first game of that opening series. So far in the NHL playoffs, road teams have compiled a record of 34-22. In the first round of the playoffs, road teams chalked up an all-time record of 31-19.
SCORING SUMMARY
First Period
No scoring.
Second Period
D- Wyatt Johnston (Colin Miller, Max Domi) 3:43. D- Evgenii Dadonev (Jamie Benn, Ryan Suter) 9:03. S- Tye Kartye (Vince Dunn) 11:05. D- Joe Pavelski (Johnston, Tyler Seguin) PPG 16:37.
Third Period
D- Seguin (Thomas Harley, Roope Hintz) 10:59. S- Jordan Eberle (Yanni Gourde) 16:32.
Shots on Goal- Seattle 27, Dallas 37.
Penalty Minutes- Seattle 10, Dallas 6.
Referees- Steve Kozari, Chris Lee. Linesmen- Michel Comier, Devin Berg.
Three Stars- 1. Wyatt Johnston, D. 2. Jake Oettinger, D. 3. Tyler Seguin, D.
