The Dallas Stars look to continue pulling away from the rest of the division as they head just south to Climate Pledge Arena to take on the Seattle Kraken.
Riding a six game win streak, the Dallas Stars head back into the United States to take on the struggling Seattle Kraken before heading home from their four game road trip.
The Stars are taking on a Kraken team who had lost eight games in a row before beating the Anaheim Ducks twice in a row in their past two games. Dallas looks to extend their win streak to seven games, which would be one behind the Dallas franchise record. Including the North Stars, the franchise record sits at 11 games in a row.
The Stars are coming off a massive win against the Vancouver Canucks that not only put them first in the Western Conference, but also clinched them a playoff berth. This is the Stars fifth playoff appearance in the last six seasons. In the 3-1 win over Vancouver, the Stars were not only able to prove that they can battle against one of the top teams in the league, but were also able to slay the demon of beating the Canucks on home ice for the first time since pre-COVID.
Here are some things to watch for in Seattle tonight:
- With eight games remaining, the race for the team lead in goals is bunched up at the top. Wyatt Johnston leads the Stars with 28, with Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson right behind with 27. Joe Pavelski has 25 and Matt Duchene has 24. Anyone out of the bunch could make a final push to take the top spot.
- Jason Robertson has 19 points in his last 13 games, including seven multi-point games in that stretch. He has stretched his lead in points for the Stars up to 14 points, and has 76 on the season. It is still behind his 100+ point pace from last season, but the results recently are very encouraging heading into the postseason.
- Jake Oettinger will be in net again for the Stars Saturday. With three days off before facing the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday, Oettinger will have plenty of rest heading into the final stretch of games despite starting three of the four games on this road trip. Oettinger has a 2.93 GAA and .899 save percentage on the year.
- Joey Daccord gets the start for the Kraken. The former Arizona State grad is coming off of a 12 save shutout of the Ducks Tuesday, but has not been as sharp as he was when teammate Philipp Grubauer went on IR with an injury. For the season, Daccord still boasts a 2.42 GAA and a .917 save percentage.
- This is the fifth time the Tanev brothers have faced off this season, with Calgary and Seattle facing off all four times before Chris was traded to the Stars. Although Brandon was injured in their first meeting and Chris was injured in their prior game, it is not often two brothers get to see each other this much in one season without a playoff series. The Kraken still have one more game against the Stars April 13 in Dallas.
Projected lines:
Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Marchment-Duchene-Seguin
Benn-Johnston-Stankoven
Steel-Faksa-Smith
Harley-Heiskanen
Lindell-Tanev
Suter-Lundkvist
Oettinger
Wedgewood
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