The Dallas Stars had never lost two games in a row since the start of the playoffs. With a Western Finals berth on the line, the Stars continued that trend with a 2-1 victory to eliminate the Seattle Kraken in seven games.
The Stars are therefore back in the Western Finals for the first time since 2020. In the bubble, the Stars had the best of the Vegas Golden Knights, who they will find once again this year.
Curiously, it was Peter DeBoer, now the Stars head coach, who was managing the Golden Knights at the time. In fact, DeBoer improved to seven wins and no losses as a coach in Game 7. He is the third coach, after Darryl Sutter and Scotty Bowman, to win Game 7 with four different teams.
This success will be all the more pleasant in Dallas since the team was eliminated in seven games in the first round last year, by the Calgary Flames.
“We were excited to have home-ice advantage. We have worked for this all year. We were excited to play in front of our fans, I think they gave us a lot of energy to continue. We have to learn to win games 1-0 and 2-1. It was good to see our players succeed in this way tonight,” admitted Joe Pavelski moments after the victory.
“The series change, but they are all exciting. I am happy to be able to play in the Association final once again. Nothing can be taken for granted. We put in a good effort and we have to keep going,” added Pavelski, who also reached the semi-finals in 2016 and 2020.
Roope Hintz put an end to a lot of the Stars’ lack of opportunism in the second period to open the scoring. Wyatt Johnston extended Dallas’ lead midway through the third period.
Oliver Bjorkstrand netted the Kraken’s only goal in the losing cause with just 17 seconds remaining. He allowed Seattle to believe in a comeback that ultimately never materialized.
Former Canadiens Evgenii Dadonov and Quebecer Yanni Gourde each picked up an assist. With his goal, Hintz was alone in second place in playoff scoring with 19 points, one shy of Connor McDavid.
After being kicked out of Game 6, the result of a tough outing, Jake Oettinger rebounded and stopped 22 of 23 shots he faced. At the other end of the rink, Philipp Grubauer allowed two goals on 28 shots.
The Stars started the game with panache in the first period. Dallas had several golden scoring chances and the team also had a power play, but the Kraken weathered the storm thanks to holding goaltender Philipp Grubauer and several fine defensive plays to block shots .
The lack of opportunism was once again at the heart of the middle period. After several missed chances, the Stars had an opportunity to open the scoring midway through the period. Taking advantage of a beautiful staging by Ryan Suter and Mason Marchment, Tyler Seguin made a superb feint to escape, but he got the door closed in his face by Philipp Grubauer.
The scoring chances piled up in the following minutes for Dallas, but on several occasions the Stars’ shots missed the mark.
In volume, the Stars inevitably ended up unlocking. In the last minutes of the second period, Roope Hintz took advantage of a turnover from Jamie Oleksiak in the defensive zone to escape. Hintz was patient, then scored with a superb wrist shot into the top corner to open the scoring with his ninth goal of the playoffs.
The Stars’ thin cushion was doubled with just over seven minutes left in the third period. Forgotten in the neutral zone behind the Kraken defense, Wyatt Johnston recovered the puck in the corner after a long throw from Evgenii Dadonov. Johnston then came back to the mouth of the net and scored with a nice backhand shot.
“It was a big goal. There are many emotions in the house. When he scores or does something like that, it’s very special, you feel happy for him,” Pavelski said of the goal for Johnston, who has lived in the Pavelski home all year.
With 17 seconds left, Bjorkstrand scored from the backhand on a loose puck in the slot, but Seattle was unable to complete the comeback.
With the triumph, the Stars prevent the Kraken from joining Vegas in the Western Finals for a showdown between the Bettman Tour’s two newest expansion teams.
Dallas will open the next playoff round Friday in Vegas.
