The Seattle Kraken dropped the hammer last night on the Dallas Stars, a 6-3 beat down tying up the series at 3 games a piece. The Kraken with their backs against the wall answered the call and delivered one of their most complete games this postseason. The team, with the city behind them dominated the Stars from start to finish.
The Kraken needed their best effort to slow down a Stars team that had all of the momentum and the opportunity to move on to the next round. As mentioned in the Game 6 preview, all of the pressure was on Dallas. The Kraken thrive playing the underdog role. Please look us over. Please do not take our team serious. We will wipe the floor with you, as the Kraken did tonight.
Yanni Gourde opened the scoring. The straw that stirs the drink showed once again why he is one of the most clutch postseason players in the NHL. Gourde set the tone with his physical play, goal scoring prowess, and ability to get under the skin of the opposition. Oh, and that smile- drives opposing teams nuts. Not matter what they do to Yanni, he just smiles.
Jordan Eberle scored 2 goals and assisted on another. Eberle is leading all Kraken skaters in postseason goals with 6.
The team stats were pretty similar (hits, shots-Kraken had the edge, giveaways). In spite of the win Dallas still controlled the faceoff circle, winning 52% of the draws. Game 6 was a much better showing for the Kraken with respect to faceoff wins. Dallas was winning a whopping 60% of draws in previous games. Seattle needs to continue to close this gap in Game 7.
The biggest take away from this game is Stars’ goalie Jake Oettinger being chased from the crease for the second time in this series. The unsolvable riddle, the difference maker, the goalie that would carry Dallas to the promise land has looked pedestrian against the Kraken’s depth. We solved him.
The Kraken are living rent free in Oettinger’s head.
For the Kraken to win and send this series to Game 7, we needed Matty Beniers to deliver (he did), Yanni Gourde to have a game (he did), Grubauer to return to form (he did), and for the team to get back to playing Kraken hockey (they did). The adjustments needed were made and the team once again has the momentum heading into another Game 7.
We have Dallas right where we want them. Screw their veteran leadership, and screw the Dallas star power. We are the better team. Period. Both teams are firing on all cylinders and as expected get one last shot to finish off the other team. Again, all of the pressure is on Dallas to not ‘blow it’ at home in front of their fans. We are once again an underdog road team.
All we need to do is play our game.
Monday night is going to be electric. Expect fireworks. Both teams will lay everything on the line. Big hits, big goals, big saves. The Kraken depth will be the difference. Seattle looks like a team of destiny. As I said all week, we will win this series in 7.
Monday night it ends (for Dallas).
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms. I hope that the Kraken Game 6 win was what you were hoping for. Your kids are off the hook 🙂
Fear the deep!