Kraken force Game 7 with a 6-3 win over the Stars
SEATTLE - The Seattle Kraken will play a Game 7 on Monday night with a chance to earn a spot in the Western Conference Finals.
Eeli Tolvanen scored a goal with two assists and Jordan Eberle scored two goals with an empty netter to seal the win and carry the Seattle Kraken to a 6-3 victory over the Dallas Stars, forcing a decisive Game 7 back in Dallas on Monday night.
"We had nothing to lose, obviously," Eberle said. "Back's against the wall. So we're going to have the same effort in Game 7 and we know that they're going to have their best. So that's all you can ask for."
Yanni Gourde, Matty Beniers and Tye Kartye also scored for Seattle as the Kraken avoided elimination and forced a winner-take-all matchup on Monday in Texas. Eberle's empty net goal came with 58 seconds left to clinch the victory for the Kraken in their first game at home facing elimination in franchise history.
"We've just got to be ourselves. We did that today," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "We had a goal in mind, we wanted to make sure that we were still one of the six teams alive when we woke up tomorrow morning with the opportunity to go and play a Game 7. We know the test. We know the challenge. It will be a big one, but we'll be ready."
Tolvanen and Eberle became the first players in team history with three-point games in a playoff contest. Philipp Grubauer made 20 saves on 23 shots in net for the Kraken.
The Stars didn't go down quietly. They created 16 "high-danger" chances in the game to just four from Seattle, per NaturalStatTrick.com. But the bounces didn't go in Dallas' favor. Joe Pavelski and Jason Robertson each hit the post in the third period and Miro Heiskanen had a rebound chance slide just wide of the net off his calf.
"We knew that they're going to push back and they're going to have their chances," Tolvanen said. "But you know, I think we played pretty well and we played cool. So you know, it's just great for the team that we can weather those and just move on."
In facing possible elimination, the Kraken delivered one of their best opening periods of the series.
After absorbing a strong opening shift from the Stars, Seattle took over control of play. Seattle out-shot the Stars by a 16-5 margin in the first period and scored first for just the second time in the series. The Stars are 7-1 in the playoffs when they score first and 0-4 when they don't after Saturday night's defeat. The lone loss came in Game 1 of the series with Seattle's 5-4 win in overtime.
A turnover by Dallas at neutral ice gave Gourde and Tolvanen a 2-on-1 rush chance from the right wing. Stars defenseman Esa Lindell fell down and Gourde took the puck around the downed defender and got in front of the Dallas net. Gourde chipped slammed own rebound chance into the net by Jake Oettinger to give Seattle a 1-0 lead.
The Stars are 7-1 in the playoffs when they score first and 0-4 when they don't after Saturday night's defeat. The lone loss came in Game 1 of the series with Seattle's 5-4 win in overtime.
"We were ready tonight," Tolvanen said. "I feel like the last couple games they've been maybe that ready team at the start, so I think that was the big key today. So I think all four lines were ready to play and we showed it."
The lead was short-lived as the Stars answered just 31 seconds later. Seattle got caught with too many forwards in deep on the forecheck as Dallas created a rush chance back the other way. A Tyler Seguin pass jumped up off the stick of Justin Schultz and bounced off Mason Marchment past Grubauer to tie the game at 1-1.
The Kraken took advantage of a pair of power play chances to begin to apply more pressure on Dallas. After getting three shots on net during their first power play of the night, Seattle struck minutes later with Jamie Benn in the box for a tripping penalty. Tolvanen ripped a slap-pass toward the Stars net that deflected to Jordan Eberle, who calmly flipped the puck backhanded into the net for a 2-1 Seattle lead at the end of the first period.
Seattle won all six face-offs on the night they had on the man-advantage, which helped create the pressure on the Dallas net.
"We were pretty simple. We won face-offs," Hakstol said. "… "We started with the puck. We were looking to, you know, not just to get set up and stay on the outside. We were looking to get into attack mode with the mentality and that first power play really set the tone for us."
After killing off a Beniers slashing penalty in the opening seconds of the second period, the Kraken scored one of their prettiest goals of the season to extend the lead. Gourde found a driving Oliver Bjorkstrand with a backhand pass and Tolavanen was perched on Oettinger's doorstep for a one-time finish and a 3-1 Kraken advantage.
Rookie Tye Kartye made it a three-goal lead just under three minutes later. Another neutral zone turnover for Dallas led to a three-on-two rush chance for Seattle with Kartye ripping a wrist shot over the right pad of Oettinger for a 4-1 lead.
"That goal from Karts, looking off Ebs on the other side, I love it," Gourde said. "Taking that shot and going blocker side is an amazing shot and you can see the confidence the kid has had in his game since he got to the National and it's a lot of fun watching these young guys come in and play the way that they play."
Dallas pulled Oettinger for the second time in the series after Kartye's goal with Scott Wedgewood finishing the game in net for the Stars. Oettinger allowed four goals on 18 shots from Seattle before exiting the contest. The Kraken have given Oettinger problems throughout the series. Per MoneyPuck.com, Oettinger has allowed 8.92 goals over expected in the six games of the series. Per NaturalStatTrick.com, it's a little less staggering at 7.98 goals over expected.
As a comparison, Grubauer is 1.74 goals over expected, per MoneyPuck.com, and 3.75 goals over expected, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
The Stars got a goal back shortly afterward as Jamie Oleksiak was sent to the penalty box for an interference call. Pavelski tipped a Heiskanen shot through Grubauer for a power play goal to cut Seattle's lead to 4-2.
The pair of posts and the missed chances from Heiskanen came fast and furious to open the third period for Dallas. Seattle survived a Vince Dunn penalty midway through the third period as Gourde delivered a key clearance from Grubauer's doorstep in the closing seconds of the penalty. Less than 30 seconds after the penalty expired, Eberle and Beniers created a two-on-one chance against Lindell that Beniers finished to make it a 5-2 lead.
That initially felt like it would be the finishing blow for Seattle only for the Stars to answer back, again, just 15 seconds later. A Thomas Harley shot was deflected by Joel Kiviranta and went off Dunn's calf and behind Grubauer to cut the lead to 5-3 with 11:02 left to play.
Wedgewood left for the bench with four minutes left to get an extra attacker on for the Stars. Eberle missed a bank shot chance on the empty net with 3:30 left. He'd ultimately get the empty net goal to go with just under a minute left to send the series back to Dallas for a winner-take-all contest.
"The pressure is on both teams," Eberle said. "It's second round, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup (playoffs), pressure is going to be on both teams. I think for us, we've obviously been through this as a group once. I know that group has probably been through a few before. That's all you can ask for. These games are what makes playoff hockey fun."
The victor will face either the Vegas Golden Knights or Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Finals. Vegas leads their series 3-2.