Dallas Stars win big in Game 4, even series with Seattle Kraken

Game 3 in Seattle could not have gone much worse for the Dallas Stars. A scoring spree by the Seattle Kraken in the second period put the game out of reach and the Stars in a 2-1 hole in the series.

Dallas needed a big response in Game 4, and it certainly got it. It took a while to get a goal in this game, but the first one went to Stars captain Jamie Benn. The next three goals in the contest were also scored by the visiting team.

The Kraken did not go quietly, as they scored three of the game’s next four goals, but in the end, the four-goal deficit that they faced entering the third period was ultimately too much to overcome.

The Stars got back on track in Game 4.

If there’s any singular thing that the Stars should be especially excited about after this win, it’s the power play. After scoring only once with the man advantage through the first three games of this series, Dallas netted two power play goals in three attempts in Game 4.

One thing that they may not be as excited about is the play of goaltender Jake Oettinger. He was much better than he was when he was pulled in the last game, but he still gave up three goals on only 19 shots.

For what it’s worth, he only saw ten pucks in the first 40 minutes of the game, so it can be hard for a goalie that is not busy to stay sharp. Still, it wasn’t exactly the bounce-back game that fans may have expected.

On the Kraken side, ten shots in two periods and 19 overall is simply not good enough. Again, they played a strong third period, but it was too little too late, and they’ll have to bring a more complete effort to the table in Game 5.

The more concerning thing, though, is that goaltender Philipp Grubauer was not able to build on a strong Game 3. He has struggled in this series, and the roles have been reversed as he will now face the same task that Oettinger did ahead of Game 4: bounce back after being pulled.

With things knotted up at two, this is a best-of-three series from here. Game 5 will be in Dallas on Thursday, May 11 at 9:30 PM.