Seattle, WA – The Seattle Kraken toppled the potentially playoff bound Dallas Stars with a four to one win. The Kraken led for the entirety of the game after a Jared McCann shorthanded goal three minutes in, and never looked back. The Stars looked sluggish out of the gate, and their third period goal was too little too late. With the Kraken win, Dallas will lose their wild card spot temporarily and Seattle stays out of the bottom spot in the Western Conference.
Yanni Gourde is mobbed by his teammates after his third period goal
The Kraken offensive pressure was tremendous for the majority of the game. Seattle made sure that the Stars wouldn’t be able to come into Climate Pledge Arena and dictate the pace. The Kraken dominated shots the first two periods, and really did not give Dallas any room to breathe. Although Seattle was only able to score once heading into the final period, the flood gates opened up in the final frame as the Kraken hung three on Dallas to slam the door. Alternate captain Yanni Gourde reflected on Seattle’s approach and how the game went overall.
“We knew that they were coming into a back-to-back game, so it was very important for us to have a good start and set the tone for the rest of the game... We need to be comfortable with a one goal lead, be poised with the puck, doing the right thing and making the right plays... We gotta keep building as a team, this is a step forward,” the veteran forward remarked.
Jared McCann began the scoring with a short handed goal in the first period
The other major factor in Seattle’s win was goaltender Chris Driedger’s play, with some help from the penalty kill. Despite the Kraken conceding three penalties, the Stars could not get anything going on advantage play. While the penalty kill did a great job, Chris Driedger was fantastic between the pipes for Seattle. Glove save, blocker save, kick save, you name it. Driedger was on fire tonight, just a few days after head coach Dave Hakstol remarked that the team needed “leadership” as he announced that Philipp Grubauer was starting in net for the April 1st matchup against Las Vegas. Driedger reflected on his last few outings in the post-game press conference.
“It feels good to win, a couple little tweaks and getting some confidence, doing my thing in there has been a lot of fun. What an effort by the guys tonight, fun to watch... I felt like earlier in the year we may be scared, maybe timid to play with the lead. Tonight, we were a confident hockey team. Things have been going our way lately, playing better hockey and competing no matter what the score is,” Driedger reflected.
Ryan Donato scored the go ahead goal
Despite the losses to Las Vegas, the Kraken have looked like a better team in the past few weeks. Seattle has been building on things and playing with confidence, something that the players have stated needs to be done. The team's resilience is still there, as it has been all season, but a more consistent offensive presence and an ability to play with a lead have developed. Head coach Dave Hakstol had a fun statement on the approach for this final month of the season.
“It’s a busy month, we’ve got a long month in front of us. Let’s try and have some fun, play our asses off, win hockey games and have some fun together while we do all of those things,” Hakstol said.
The Kraken’s next contest is Wednesday, April 6th on the road against the St. Louis Blues with a 5PM PST puck drop. Young centerman Jordan Kyrou leads the Blues, currently sitting at third in the Central Division and fourth in the Western Conference. The matchup will be broadcast on ROOT sports for those in the Washington region, and ESPN+ for anyone outside of it.
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