Philipp Grubauer's standout effort not enough, Kraken season ends on 2-1 loss to Stars in Game 7

DALLAS, TX MAY 15: Jason Robertson #21, Joe Pavelski #16 and Colin Miller #6 of the Dallas Stars celebrate a goal against the Seattle Kraken in Game Seven of the Second Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at American Airlines Center on May 15, 202

A valiant effort from goaltender Philipp Grubauer wasn't enough to save the season for the Seattle Kraken.

Roope Hintz and Wyatt Johnston each scored for the Dallas Stars as the Kraken fell 2-1in Game 7 Monday night to see their terrific second season come to an end.

In a series that had averaged over eight goals scored a game through the first six contests, the decisive meeting proved to be far more difficult to find goals. Grubauer was stellar for Seattle on the night. He had 26 saves on 28 shots for Seattle with several being pivotal stops to keep Dallas from running away with the contest.

But in the end, the Kraken's offense was unable to breakthrough Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger until 17 seconds were left in the contest. Oliver Bjorkstrand's goal with 17.6 seconds left got Seattle on the board, but it was too little, too late to save the Kraken's season. The Kraken won a face-off with 9.2 seconds left, but Vince Dunn's shot sailed wide and the clock drained away for the Stars to advance.

"I thought they were a half step quicker in everything they did tonight," head coach Dave Hakstol said.

"As you look back on the game, it was their play. They checked well. They played with great pace. They managed the puck a little bit better than we did. And you know, just on the flip side, in order to turn that, the speed and the crispness and the sharpness of what we were doing with the puck wasn't quite good enough to generate any type of pace offensively."

A year ago, Oettinger had 64 saves on 67 shots in a Game 7 loss to the Calgary Flames in a remarkable performance. Oettinger again rose to the occasion in a Game 7 with 22 saves on 23 shots for Dallas as they advance to face the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final.

Oettinger had been benched just five minutes into the second period of Game 6 as well – the second time in the series he was pulled for backup Scott Wedgewood. But he had his best performance of the series in Game 7 to help thwart the hopes of the Kraken. Seattle was shutout just three times during the regular season: at home by the Minnesota Wild and twice on the road against the New York Islanders and San Jose Sharks. Bjorkstrand's late goal ended the shutout bid for Oettinger.

For Hintz, it was his fourth goal of the series and ninth of the playoffs for Dallas. His 19 points in the playoffs trail only the 20 of Edmonton's Connor McDavid.

"We're one win went away from having an opportunity to be one of the Final Four teams playing," Hakstol said. "So you see that pain in guys, especially in the veteran guys that really understand how hard it is to get here. You know for the young guys … that that realization is there as well. But you also see the growth in those guys and the importance of the experience that they just went through."

Dallas appeared to have just a little bit more left in the tank throughout the decisive game on Monday night.

Midway through the first period, Eeli Tolvanen took a cross-checking penalty against Jamie Benn as Benn tried to swat a loose puck in the crease behind Grubauer into the net. It saved a goal but put Seattle on the penalty kill.

The Stars attempted 10 shots on the power play with the Kraken blocking seven and three more missing the net. It resulted in a hectic penalty kill for Seattle with officially no saves needed by Grubauer due to the effort of the defense to keep pucks from getting to him.

Shots for the period ended at nine each, but Seattle had 13 blocked shots to just two for Dallas as the Stars managed to get far more shot attempts off in the period. Adam Larsson, Jamie Oleksiak and Alex Wennberg each had two blocks on the kill with Brandon Tanev getting one as well.

The Kraken also had one power play chance in the period after a Benn high-stick on Morgan Geekie. It wasn't nearly the threat that Dallas' advantage had been. Seattle lost both face-offs and didn't get a single shot off with the advantage. In fact, the first lost face-off led to a short-handed chance for the Stars with Roope Hintz and Luke Glendening each getting shots on Grubauer.

But Seattle did have chances in the period. Wennberg and Matty Beniers both had strong looks from right in front of the net to bookend the period, and Tye Kartye had a deflected shot nearly slip through Oettinger's armpit on while Benn's penalty call was delayed.

Grubauer kept doing everything in his power for the Kraken. He delivered massive glove saves on Grade A chances from Tyler Seguin and Hintz to kep the game scoreless.

For the contest, Grubauer saved at least a goal over expected on the night to keep the game tight. Grubauer saved 1.51 goals over expected, per MoneyPuck.com, and 1.11 goals over expected, per NaturalStatTrick.com.

"I'm really proud of this group and how we played the whole season and the playoffs and it's a tough pill to swallow, for sure," Grubauer said.

But Oettinger was nearly as good and the Kraken weren't able to keep up with the amount of offensive chances created. The Stars led the Kraken by a 15-5 margin in "high-danger" chances on the night, via NaturalStatTrick.com.

Eventually, one of those high-danger looks bit Seattle. Oleksiak had the puck picked off his stick at the Seattle blue line as Hintz skated in uncontested and beat Grubauer stick side with a wrist shot to give Dallas a 1-0 lead with 4:01 left in the second period.

The puck had been lofted the center ice from the Dallas zone and took a funny bounce that made Oleksiak reach for the puck. Hintz managed to take it off his stick to get the chance and the lead as American Airlines Center roared.

"Grubauer was unreal tonight. He kept them in the game and gave them a chance to win." Oettinger said of his counterpart. 

Dallas are now 8-1 in the playoffs when scoring first and 0-4 when allowing the opening goal. Hintz's opening tally proved to be a vital one again for the stars.

"You get a taste of the postseason here as a group and you win a series and almost won another one," Eberle said. "You know, I think you just grow. Obviously, you remember how this feels and, you know, this is a tough league to win in. It's a tough trophy to win. I think we have the foundation and the group here and you just want to keep building."

Oleksiak had one of Seattle's best scoring chances of the period as well as he caught a post Eberle also had a shot gloved down by Oettinger. 

Johnston then delivered the decisive insurance goal. Dallas threw the puck from their own end deep into the Kraken zone with Johnston winning a race to the puck. Johnston managed to sneak a backhand shot over the collar of Grubauer into the net with 7:12 remaining to give the Stars a 2-0 advantage.

Johnston became the youngest player to score a series-winning goal in a Game 7 in NHL history just a day after his 20th birthday.

Bjorkstrand would also hammer the post with a shot with under five minutes remaining but Seattle didn't truly start getting shots on Oettinger until after Grubauer left for the bench. They had just three shots on net in the period before pulling Grubauer with three minutes left.

Bjorkstrand found a loose puck off a late face-off win and backhanded it past Oettinger for Seattle's only goal of the night. They quickly worked to earn an offensive zone face-off with 9.2 seconds left and won the draw for one final chance, but Dunn's shot was knocked away by Oettinger to send the Stars on to Vegas.

"I'm super proud honestly," Gourde said. "We battled super hard all year long. We built something here this year. I think we took a lot of steps in the right direction this year. Obviously that's not the end result (we wanted). The end result is a little bit further. But super proud of these guys. They battled hard the whole year and every time we stepped up. We never quit. Young guys stepped up. Older guys stepped up. Everyone that has It's been a lot of fun playing with these guys."

It was a deflating finish to a playoff run that seemed to truly root the Kraken into the sports landscape in Seattle. Hakstol said that's something the players should relish once the pain of the loss subsides.

"It probably won't register home tonight, but this group also changed the landscape of hockey in Seattle," Hakstol said. "This particular group had the guts to change the culture, the trajectory, the belief of our franchise as well. So that's something for later, but that hits home with me that this group of guys did that and, at some point in time they should look at that and take a lot of pride."