DALLAS — A brief road trip that began with so much promise for the Kraken proved to be one they just couldn’t finish.
For the second time in two nights, the Kraken ran up a two-goal lead in the first period only to see things crumble from there. This time, it was a three-goal second period against them that begat a 3-2 loss Saturday to the Dallas Stars on a night the Kraken left goalie Chris Driedger to fend mostly for himself in the middle frame.
Much like the script in Friday’s defeat against the Minnesota Wild, where they allowed five goals in the middle frame, the Kraken yielded a pair of quick goals by Roope Hintz from in-close to even things up before the second period was nine minutes told. Then, Ryan Donato tried to blindly dump a backward pass behind his own net, only to have Denis Gurianov intercept it and feed Vladislav Namestnikov all alone in the slot for an easy goal at the 11:34 mark to give Dallas the lead for good.
Victor Rask just missed converting in close on a backhand with 8:48 to go in regulation, but Stars goalie Jake Oettinger kept the puck out. The Kraken poured on the pressure in the final minute with Driedger pulled for an extra attacker but couldn’t convert.
The Stars had entered the night just two points up on Vegas for the final Western Conference wild-card spot, having lost their last three in a row. But they picked up the two critical ones this time and may have put the final nail in the Golden Knights — who have just three games remaining.
Things had started much better for the Kraken, with Riley Sheahan opening the scoring just 6:50 into the contest, slotting home a rebound off a point shot by Adam Larsson. Then, it would be Yanni Gourde getting his stick on a Derrick Pouliot drive and redirecting it home out of midair for a 2-0 lead just 1:27 before the period’s end.
Also, the Kraken got a goal overturned that frame when Hintz ran over goalie Driedger and left the net wide open for Joe Pavelski to fire the puck into. But the Kraken immediately challenged the play for goaltender interference and it didn’t take long for the review room to agree.
So, instead of being down one the Kraken found themselves up by a pair at intermission with Driedger playing a key role. He made a pair of early stops fewer than two minutes into the game when Joel Kiviranta got in alone and twice attempted backhand shots.
Then, right before Gourde’s goal, Jason Robertson led the Stars on a 2-on-1 break and fired a 25-foot wrist shot that Driedger deflected out of harm’s way.
But that was about as good as it would get for the Kraken, who yielded the first Hintz goal off a deflection in close. The puck initially went off defender Vince Dunn’s skate as Robertson attempted a cross-ice pass, then struck the stick of Hintz — who had been knocked to the ice — as it headed into the net.
Hintz had scored a goal and notched two assists when the Stars beat the Kraken 5-2 their first trip in here back in January. And Hintz continued to do damage in this contest, not long after, the Kraken saw Pouliot take a cross-checking penalty. Hintz quickly converted again, poking a puck away from Larsson, dancing around the defenseman and then beating Driedger with a quick snapshot.
It was the fourth power-play goal in two nights given up by the Kraken.
