Photo Credit : Jeffrey McWhorter / AP Photo
In a much-anticipated matchup against the second round Stanley Cup playoff rival Seattle Kraken tonight, the Dallas Stars continued to affirm why they’re a team to watch closely as the season progresses. It was a night of varied, but not surprising, goal scorers, the incredible tenacity of backup goalie Scott Wedgewood, and simple, but impressive, team chemistry.
Dallas’ Matt Duchene opened up the night’s scoring with a two-on-one rush goal just a minute and a half into the game. Duchene took the puck into the Kraken zone with center Tyler Seguin rushing in alongside him. When the pair reached the middle of the zone, Duchene passed the puck across to Seguin, who held it until the two were just in front of Seattle goalie Joey Daccord. Daccord committed to stopping Seguin’s advance on his glove side, butat the last moment, Seguin passed back to Duchene, who then had a wide-open net in front of him and slammed the puck into the gaping net.
Just over three minutes into the period, Wedgewood was in the process of holding off a Kraken advance when he took a puck to the neck. Seattle right winger Eeli Tolvanen took a shot on the goaltender, but the puck made contact just above Wedgewood’s chest pad and just under his mask. Wedgewood was clearly in pain, falling to the ice, lying flat out and reaching for his neck. The team’s trainer, Dave Zeis, came to the ice to assess Wedgewood’s injury, but ultimately, Wedgewood stayed in net.
Six minutes into the period, Stars center Ty Dellandrea headed to the penalty box for holding Seattle’s Vince Dunn, but the fourth-ranked penalty kill in the league held the Kraken off.
Halfway through the period, Dallas left winger Jason Robertson extended the Stars lead to two. Robertson took control of the puck in the Stars zone and passed it ahead to Roope Hintz who was headed into the neutral zone. Hintz and Seattle defenseman Will Borgen collided, but Hintz maintained control of the puck, tipping it across the neutral zone to Stars center Joe Pavelski. Pavelski skated the puck into the zone with Robertson speeding into the zone alongside him. Pavelski passed to Robertson as the pair approached the middle of the zone and Robertson shot the puck flat along the ice, through the legs of Daccord.
The two-goal lead was short lived though, with the Kraken scoring just 30 seconds into the second period. Kraken center Matty Beniers skated the puck into the Dallas zone, with left wing Tomas Tatar joining him across the zone. Beniers took a shot on Wedgewood, bouncing it off his left pad and right to a waiting Tatar who shot the puck low on Wedgewood, and sent it trickling it through the goalie’s legs.
A penalty was pending against the Kraken with 14:37 remaining in the period when defenseman Brian Dumoulin should have headed to the box for interference on Stars center Evgenii Dadonov in the Kraken zone, but the power play never came. As soon as the indication was made of an impending Stars power play, Wedgewood headed to the bench, giving Dallas an extra attacker in the Seattle zone. The Stars held the puck in the Kraken zone for nearly a full minute with the Kraken unable to touch the puck before Pavelski launched a pass from just inside the Kraken blue line to a waiting Duchene at the bottom of the left faceoff circle. Duchene launched the puck from Daccord’s left and into the wide-open net.
With just over six minutes remaining in the period, Beniers pulled the Kraken back within a goal. Dallas defenseman Jani Hakanpää lost the puck along the boards just inside the Dallas zone to Seattle’s Jordan Eberle. Eberle held the puck as Beniers skated into the Stars zone, forcing Hakanpää into a two-on-one rush, and passed to Beniers as he hit the middle of the zone. Beniers took a shot, and it sailed between the stick and the right pad of Wedgewood.
The Stars went on the penalty kill with five minutes left in the period when defenseman Miro Heiskanen was called for delay of game, but Dallas held the Kraken off yet again.
With 20 seconds left in the period, the Stars went on their first official power play of the game after Seattle’s Alex Wennberg was sent to the box for roughing Hintz, but time was against the Stars, and the period ended with the Stars up 3-2.
The remaining minute and a half of the power play didn’t yield a result for the Stars but was an indication of what the final 20 minutes of the game had in store.
Less than a minute later, Dallas would go back on the power play with Tatar being called for holding Dallas’ captain Jamie Benn, but yet again, the Kraken would hold off the Stars.
Two and a half minutes later, Dallas headed to the penalty kill when defenseman Thomas Harley was called for interference on Tolvanen as the two battled in front of Wedgewood, and the Stars held the Kraken off.
Halfway through the final frame, Seattle center Yanni Gourde was called for hooking Mason Marchment, but the Kraken killed off the penalty yet again.
Three minutes later, Goude collided with Wedgewood who had come out of the net to grab an airborne puck and headed back to the penalty box for goalie interference. With a minute left on the Dallas power play, Pavelski was called for tripping Wennberg, sending the game to a minute-long four-on-four matchup. Both teams killed off their respective penalties, and full-strength hockey resumed.
After facing down consistent Stars pressure, Daccord was finally able to retreat to the Kraken bench with 1:03 left in the game, sending an extra attacker into the Stars zone. With 24 seconds remaining on the clock, Seattle’s Oliver Bjorkstrand took a shot from the Dallas blue line that ricocheted forward off the goal post, bounced into the shoulder of Wedgewood, then up and off the back of Wennberg before falling to the ice in front of Tolvanan. Tolvanen grabbed the puck and shot it up and over a sprawled Wedgewood, trying the game 3-3 with 21 seconds left on the clock.
The overtime matchup was the twelfth for the Kraken, who were 3-8 in games decided in overtime or a shootout, and the ninth for Dallas, who had been to overtime as recently as Saturday night against the Blues in St. Louis.
Two minutes into the extra period, Harley sent the puck from neutral ice into the Kraken zone just ahead of Duchene who took control of the puck in the corner to Daccord’s left. Seattle’s Ryker Evans and Gourde advanced to double team Duchene in the corner, but Duchene sent the puck to Harley in the middle of the faceoff zone before the duo could reach him. Harley dropped the puck back to a then undefended Duchene, who held the puck in the faceoff circle. As Duchene flicked the puck to his forehand and backhand, Harley skated to the opposite side of the net, and behind both Daccord and Evans. Duchene sent the puck straight to the blade of Harley’s stick, who needed only to lean slightly into the pass to deflect the puck into the Kraken net and claim the Stars the win.
Next up, the Stars face the Vancouver Canucks at American Airlines Center on Thursday in the second of three matchups between the teams this season. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and will be broadcast on Bally Sports Southwest.
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