Danger in Dallas: Kraken stumble early in game five, Stars push them to brink of elimination
By Charles Hamaker
Dallas, TX – The Seattle Kraken returned to the Lone Star State to battle the Dallas Stars, fresh off a disappointing game four loss back in the Emerald City, dropping a second game in a row. The bad beats started from the first frame, as the Stars were able to jump out to a two-goal lead before we reached the first intermission. Seattle gave up another goal in the second period to spot Dallas three, before clawing back into the game with goals by Adam Larsson and Jared McCann. The Kraken weren’t able to generate nearly enough quality chances and didn’t challenge Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger enough. Eventually, Dallas pulled away and took a 3-2 series lead over Seattle to push the Kraken to the brink of having their second season in franchise history come to an end.
“Giving up those two opportunities is a tough way to start the game.”
Moneypuck.com lays out the disparity in quality chances between the two teams
Tripping on the way in, again
The first frame was a bit of an oddity, as although the Stars had a very small number of shots heading into the break, they made two of them count early to make that stat somewhat irrelevant. Around the 16 minutes left mark, Dallas was in the Seattle zone and Will Borgen had the opportunity to intercept a pass and potentially clear it out. Borgen slapped at the puck a bit, sending the puck right back to Jamie Benn, who sent the puck back in the direction of Borgen but through him for Wyatt Johnston, who had found just enough space behind the Seattle defenseman to fire away and use him as a screen to go up by a goal. Some good puck movement was capped off on a nice move and shot by Johnston to use the limited space he got behind Borgen and use him like his own meat shield to draw the eyes of goaltender Philipp Grubauer.
The second goal came as the Kraken failed to get their forecheck in place to sustain some offensive zone time, as the Stars launched an odd man rush. The three Seattle forwards were all caught deeper in the Dallas zone, leaving Jamie Oleksiak and Will Borgen back on the other end to try and deal with three Stars skaters. Will Borgen had done a good job at trying to close the gap on Roope Hintz, as Dallas brought the puck down, but Hintz continued his strong postseason by using the small amount of space between the two to perfectly execute the three on two. Not even six minutes into this game, and the Stars had flipped the script on how the Kraken began these Stanley Cup Playoffs, starting off hot and bringing the aggression early.
The goal sequence from Adam Larsson’s score in game four of the series back in Seattle (Photos by Liv Lyons)
The Big Cat remains on the prowl
A net front scramble resulted in a Joe Pavelski tap in to make this game three to nothing, and things were looking pretty bleak for the Kraken just 35 seconds into the middle frame. Thankfully, for team and fan morale, Seattle was able to answer the Pavelski goal as the Big Cat got his paws on the game. With a clean zone entry by Jordan Eberle, the alternate captain found another “A” patch wearer jumping into the play in the form of Adam Larsson. Larsson had plenty of space to fire away on Oettinger and beat him top corner to give the Kraken a fighting chance. From there, Seattle seemed to find the momentum and next gear that they needed to get clicking.
Five and a half minutes later, it appeared that the prowl was still taking place as Jared McCann’s shot appeared to be redirected by Larsson for Seattle’s second goal of the night. Upon review, the goal was awarded to McCann and even though it wasn’t Larsson’s, it was huge for the Kraken to continue their uphill climb. McCann’s impact and wicked shot remains present, as he created some space upon entry into the zone and with a shot that appeared effortless beat Oettinger. Seattle was buzzing around in Dallas, and the bench had the belief that they were going to find the tying goal. Sadly, that wouldn’t be the case as the team continued to fail at generating quality chances against Oettinger, and the Stars were able to further the gap.
“I’m confident we can come back in this series. It’s far from over.”
The clock is ticking
Now, for the first time since that game seven against the Avalanche, Seattle’s season has a ticking clock on when it could end. The Kraken have fought against the odds all season long, and defied the naysayers just as long. This team, largely made of “bottom six forwards” and players that other teams didn’t want in the expansion draft, took down the best teams in the NHL throughout the course of the regular season while setting numerous records. The Kraken rose from the deep, brought the fight to the teams that moved past them all the same last season, and secured their first ever postseason berth in just their second season as a franchise. The Seattle Kraken know a thing or two about bouncing back, also since they never let their losses spiral out of control too far. While there is a possibility that things could end on Saturday for the 2022-23 campaign of this team, please be proud of them for what they have accomplished. This hockey team is a large part of the thriving professional sports scene in our great city, and they have damn sure been a ton of fun.
“It’s do or die next game. This is when it gets exciting. These are the games you want to play.”
Quick notes
Tonight’s game is the 100th Stanley Cup Playoff game of Jaden Schwartz’s career.
With his second-period goal, Adam Larsson has now scored in consecutive playoff games for the first time in his career.
Nine goals have been scored by Seattle defensemen during the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the most of any team this postseason.
Jared McCann is the 18th Seattle skater to score a goal during the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
It’s the first Stanley Cup Playoffs goal of his career
The Kraken join the 1989-90 and 1992-93 Los Angeles Kings as the only teams in NHL history to have 18 unique goal scores through their first 12 games of a postseason according to NHL PR
What’s next?
Following a second tough loss in this series, the battle returns to the Emerald City as the Kraken face a do-or-die situation in game six. Climate Pledge Arena will host another win and advance game, except its home team will be on the wrong end of that situation. The sixth game of the series will on Saturday, May 13th with a puck drop of 4PM PST. Note, the earlier start time, for a few reasons as Seattle has struggled in the matinee style games and it’s different than all the game times in this series. The Kraken will have to play the desperate, lay it all out style that they did in game seven of the first round series against Colorado to keep this alive and send it back to Dallas for a game seven.