Stars ride 4-goal 2nd period to 6-3 win over Kraken in Game 4 to level series

SEATTLE - The Dallas Stars turned the tables on the Seattle Kraken with four goals in the second period as part of a 6-3 victory in Game 4 as the Stars evened the best-of-seven series at two games a piece.

Jaden Schwartz scored a pair of goals for Seattle and Adam Larsson became the 17th different goalscorer of the playoffs for the Kraken. However, Seattle's rally attempt in the third period wasn't enough to dig out of the four-goal deficit.

"We didn't get to our game until the third period," Schwartz said. "They had a higher desperation to start the game. Executed better. They were the more aggressive team and we were on our heels and weren't able to get much going offensively and spending enough time in the (offensive) zone."

Max Domi had a pair of goals and an assist on the night for the Stars, and Joe Pavelski and Roope Hintz each scored their sixth goals of the postseason in carrying Dallas to the win.

"Second period we were just late to everything," head coach Dave Hakstol said. "I mean, we were a step behind in terms of getting there offensively, forecheck-wise, and on the flip side defensively. We were just late getting there."

Seattle did a decent job of weathering a strong start by the Stars before it started to go sideways in the middle frame. The Stars out-shot Seattle by an 11-5 margin in the opening period as a reunited top line of Jason Robertson, Hintz and Pavelski drove play for Dallas.

Thje Kraken got lucky with the Stars on the power play midway through the period. In trying to kill time on Jordan Eberle's slashing penalty, Yanni Gourde lost the puck in the defensive zone and it fell directly to Robertson, who was Dallas' leading scorer with 109 points and 46 goals in the regular season.

Fortunately for the Kraken, Robertson's chance sailed wide of the net into the glass for a missed opportunity.

Philipp Grubauer then eliminated another prime chance for Dallas. Tyler Seguin had a great look between the circles off a Ryan Suter shot rebound only for Grubauer to get enough glove on the shot to deflect it over the net.

Seattle wouldn't survive another penalty kill unscathed, however.

Coming out of a 4-on-4 stretch, Jamie Benn ripped a shot through the stick side of Grubauer as it traveled through traffic in front of the net for a 1-0 Stars lead.

Just under a minute after Benn's goal, Seattle created its best chance of the opening period. Gourde found Larsson skating in clean on Jake Oettinger only for Larsson's shot to just miss the net. Larsson swung his stick in frustration at the missed chance after the ensuing stoppage.

Schwartz also missed the net trying to swat a puck out of the air in front of the net late in the period.

More missed chances for Seattle came in the second period as Alex Wennberg fanned on a shot chance from in tight and Larsson had another prime chance snagged by Oettinger.

Dallas didn't miss on their opportunities when they came.

Defenseman Thomas Harley jumped into the play on a rush chance and ripped a shot over Grubauer's stick-side shoulder to make it a 2-0 Stars lead.

Less than five minutes later, Domi scored with Benn right on top of Grubauer in front of the net for a 3-0 advantage.

Seattle challenged the goal for goaltender inference against Grubauer as Benn made contact multiple times with Grubauer. He knocked Grubauer off balance with the first contact but ended up on top of Grubauer at the top of the goal crease when Domi's shot sailed by. However, Benn had been pushed by Carson Soucy ahead of the second contact.

The goal call stood after the challenge, which gave Dallas a power play chance in addition to the Domi goal.

"I have no idea what the hell goalie interference is anymore. I really don't. I don't think anybody does in this league," said forward Jared McCann in his first game back from injury.

"We thought it was like guaranteed a goalie interference. He made contact with Grubi and then the puck went in. It was pretty obvious I don’t know what else to say."

Head coach Dave Hakstol said he didn't get an explanation about why the could stood.

"I can go through the theories as to how it was broken down, but I just like Grubi got blown out of the crease and regardless of the amount of time in between, to be able to reset was impossible because he got blown too far out of the crease on that play," Hakstol said. 

"In my opinion, there's really something wrong there, right? And that's the way I evaluated it. I don't look for something that's close or splitting hairs on it. I felt like that Grubi did not have a chance to do his job on that play. And as I look at it, never really got reset. But it is what it is. Those calls are made and they happen all the time."

The Kraken's objections didn't change the result as the Stars continued to push the action. Pavelski chipped a rebound chance past Grubauer for Dallas' second power play goal of the night and a 4-0 Stars lead.

Schwartz got the Kraken on the board with 8:14 left in the period. He was in perfect position crashing the net to direct a Justin Schultz pass by Oettinger for Seattle's first goal of the night.

Hintz restored the four-goal lead in the final minute of the period with his first goal of the series for Dallas. Hintz easily finished a rebound chance off a Benn shot to give the Stars a 5-1 lead at the break.

The Stars held a 22-10 advantage in shots through two periods.

"Just all round wasn't where it needed to be for us." Schwartz said.

As Dallas did in Game 3 with a third period goalie change to Scott Wedgewood, the Kraken replaced Grubauer with Martin Jones for the final period.

Grubauer finished with 17 saves on 22 shots on the night with two goals coming on the power play.

The Kraken did respond with their best period of the night in the third period. They scored two goals and had several more strong chances as they tried to claw back into the game. Hakstol created Schwartz with leading the effort.

"One of the big things was actually was Schwartz's drive," Hakstol said. "He had it. He raised his level. … A shift where there's an extra effort play where a guy goes out and shows that his will is a little bit above his opponent's, that has a way of building and shifting momentum. I thought Schwartzy had that tonight. We're going to need a whole lot more of that going into Game 5 and going into a three game series."

With a delayed penalty pending for Dallas, Schwartz jumped onto the ice as an extra attacker as Jones raced to the bench. Schwartz found space between the circles and ripped a shot off an Oliver Bjorkstrand pass past Oettinger's stick for his second of the night and fifth of the playoffs.

Jamie Oleksiak nearly scored just three minutes later as Schwartz set him up with a pass that deflected off Oettinger and the left post twice each before being raked away from goal by Suter. Carson Soucy had a good look turned aside by Oettinger with 10 minutes remaining as well as Seattle kept pushing for a rally.

Larsson ripped a slap shot by Oettinger with 4:11 left to play, but Domi scored his second of the night on an empty net to send the series back to Dallas even at 2-2.

"Good team. Back and forth series," Schwartz said. "I had a feeling it wasn't going to be easy. So best two-out-of-three now. Just regroup, get some rest and get ready to go."

Oettinger is now 22-1-3 this season for the Stars in games played after a loss, which includes a 4-0 mark in the playoffs. However, the Kraken still managed three goals on 19 shots on net. They just didn't create the number of chances needed to keep up with Dallas' effort on Tuesday night.

Notes:

– Game 6 of the series will be a 4 p.m. start back at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday afternoon. A Game 7, if necessary, is scheduled for Monday back in Dallas. Game 6 will be broadcast on ESPN.

– Jared McCann played just over 13 minutes in his return to the lineup after sustaining an injury in Game 4 of the team's series with the Colorado Avalanche. 

"Obviously first couple shifts was a little tougher, but towards the end there I felt really good," McCann said.

McCann had three shots on net and split time between the fourth line with Ryan Donato and Brandon Tanev, and his regular top line spot with Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle.

"I thought things slowed down a little bit for him as the game went on and that's what you would hope for and expect," Hakstol said. "… I thought he worked his way into this game. I thought his pace and his confidence got better and better throughout the game."

– Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen played over 31 minutes, which led all skaters. Heiskanen left Game 3 for Dallas after a puck shot by Tye Kartye deflected up and hit him in the left cheek. He had multiple stitches to fix the would and did not return on Saturday. He picked up an assist on Jamie Benn's opening power play goal.

– Jani Hakanpää (lower body injury) and Ty Dellandrea (illness) were scratched by Dallas for Game 4. Stars head coach Peter DeBoer said Hakanpää had been a game-time decision. Dellandrea did not take part in the team's morning skate earlier in the day.

SportsSeattle KrakenNHL