This being “Kids’ Night” at Climate Pledge Arena, several Kraken players had dual youth and adult portraits of themselves shown on the two video scoreboards.
And down on the ice, there were also dual sides of each Kraken player on display from both an offensive and defensive perspective. Sunday night’s textbook two-way game played by the Kraken in a 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars saw the visitors struggle most of the way to generate solid chances against goaltender Chris Driedger.
When they finally did, Dreidger was up to the task, epitomized by a kick save made off Stars veteran Joe Pavelski from the lip of the crease with just over seven minutes to go in the second period. Then, in the final frame, Driedger got over in time to stop a close-in chance from the right side by Miro Heiskanen with the Kraken still up by only a goal.
Moments later, it would be Ryan Donato doubling the Kraken’s advantage by taking a long pass from Carson Soucy, going in alone and undressing Stars netminder Jake Oettinger before tucking the puck in an empty net. John Klingberg would finally get Dallas on the board with 5:35 to play, but Yanni Gourde quickly restored the two-goal margin on a breakaway chance just two minutes later and Karson Kuhlman added an empty netter with Oettinger pulled.
Jared McCann had given the Kraken an early lead that held up all night, taking an Alex Wennberg pass just under four minutes into the game while short-handed and firing home his 25th goal of the season.
The Kraken needed the victory on a night they temporarily fell into sole possession of last place overall in the NHL courtesy of Arizona’s overtime victory over Chicago. With the win, the Kraken leapfrogged back over the Coyotes and Montreal into the 30th spot overall by a lone point.
From the get-go, the Kraken seemed to have a step on their opponents, who’d arrived in town after a win in San Jose the previous night. A rousing electric guitar performance of the national anthem by youngster Nikhil Bagga, 12, had the crowd buzzing beforehand and the electricity seemed to carry over to the home team’s performance.
The Kraken limited the Stars to just eight shots on goal the first half of the game. And it was while killing penalties that the dual aspect of the Kraken's game was truly on display, with some of their best chances coming when down a man.
After scoring on their initial penalty kill with Kole Lind in the box, the Kraken notched five more shots on net in the second period while defending a man down with Adam Larsson serving two minutes. They very nearly doubled their lead at even strength when Lind fed Gourde right at the crease and his one-timer went off Oettinger’s body and then the cross bar but stayed out.
The Stars poured it on in the final period, especially when the Kraken went up by two just 4:53 in. They outshot the Kraken 14-6 in the frame, but Driedger stood tall in his net with several key saves in close before the Stars finally put one by him.
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