As far as pre-playoff tests go, Vince Dunn and his Kraken teammates knew this homestretch of consecutive games against the Dallas Stars was as good a measuring stick as any.
So, Dunn, with a pair of assists Saturday night to tie his own franchise record points streak of nine games, was pleased his team escaped with a lone standings point in a contest they twice trailed. But he wasn’t as thrilled with the end result of a 4-3 overtime loss in which the Kraken once again surrendered a late lead on home ice.
“It was a competitive game out there and I thought we did a good job for the most part,” Dunn said. “But it’s a really disappointing result again when we’re up close to the end there. So, we’ll learn from it. We’ll look at it and we’ll find a way to break them down. We have them very soon again here, so just forget it. It’s an important point that we got and we’ll move on.”
Miro Heiskanen snapped the Kraken’s overtime win streak at seven with 1:34 to go in the extra session, taking a cross-ice pass in the right circle from newly acquired trade arrival Max Domi and — with the puck still on edge — firing it upstairs on Philipp Grubauer to end the contest.
Joe Pavelski had tied the score with 1:10 to go in regulation on a furious net-front scramble with Stars goalie Jake Oettinger pulled for an extra attacker. It marked the third time in their past four home games the Kraken have lost after surrendering a third-period lead.
“It’s a scramble in front of the net and they know how to make elite plays and that’s what they did,” Dunn said. “When things are scrambly they look for the extra pass. So, it’s really disappointing to not get the win there but we fought a good fight to the end.”
Oliver Bjorkstrand looked to have the game-winner with just more than three minutes to play, taking a pass in the slot — on one of the few times a Kraken player was allowed to set up there — and firing the puck home on the power play. That came after Ryan Donato had tied things seven minutes earlier for the Kraken, jamming away at a rebound on Oettinger until the puck finally slid behind him.
Not only do the Central Division-leading Stars boast one of hockey’s top-scoring trios, but also a rock-solid defensive corps that makes it difficult to get inside on them for high-danger chances. With their first games of the season against them Saturday and again on Monday night at Climate Pledge Arena, the Kraken will see how they fare against a team expected to vie for a Stanley Cup Final bid once the postseason begins.
With both teams trying to limit inside chances and keep shots to the perimeter, it wasn’t surprising to see goals coming on deflections by guys going to the net front. Donato said his team made a conscious effort to get to the net more on Oettinger that final period.
“I think he was seeing a little too much of the pucks,” Donato said. “Our defensemen were doing a good job of getting it to the net but we weren’t getting any traffic. I think we kind of harped on that in the third and it obviously made a difference.”
Dallas jumped into a 2-1 lead by going to the net midway through the second period when Ty Dellandria won a faceoff cleanly and the ensuing point shot by Ryan Suter was redirected by Mason Marchment past Grubauer. The Kraken had tied the game 1-1 a couple of minutes earlier when Dunn’s point shot was deflected at the net front by Matty Beniers for his 20th of the season to lead all rookies.
The Kraken did a good job of shutting down 38-goal man Jason Robertson and linemates Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski — who entered the night with 86 goals between them as a trio — but couldn’t stay with them the entire time and paid for it on the night’s opening goal five minutes into the middle period.
Robertson gained control of the puck in the slot, spotted a wide open Hintz standing uncovered in the right faceoff circle and slid a pass across to him. Hintz calmly corralled the puck and wristed it into a wide open net before Grubauer could get back across in time to prevent Dallas from going up 1-0.
“It was a fast game,” Donato said. “I mean, they have so many guys that can fly. We do too but it was definitely a fast game with pucks moving fast.”
The Kraken tried as best they could to get behind stalwart defender Heiskanen and a Dallas squad that had allowed the NHL’s fourth-fewest goals per game at 2.65. But time and again, the Stars forced them to shoot from the perimeter and the Kraken couldn’t get enough traffic in front of Oettinger to make a difference.
It wasn’t until the expiration of a four-minute Kraken power play midway through the third that Donato got close enough to jam away at a loose puck until it finally slid behind Oettinger.
Bjorkstrand’s ensuing goal had the Kraken again positioned to win what coach Dave Hakstol termed “a real competitive hockey game all the way through” –much as they’d gone ahead against Boston in the dying minutes last month only to lose in regulation. Hakstol said his team was prepared for the goalie to be pulled for an extra attacker and knew what was coming.
“We had the pressure that we wanted but we weren’t able to finish the play,” Hakstol said. “They got it out of the pressure and they made the play. We had that play pressed on the half wall and we came up a little bit short getting it out of the zone.”