Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 28: Stars take Game 7 2-1 to set up 2020 West Final rematch

Nothing sends chills down a hockey fan’s spine quite like hearing the words “Game 7”. They very rarely disappoint, and the lone Game 7 of the second round between the Dallas Stars and the Seattle Kraken certainly didn’t, as for the first time in a while in this series, the game was close the whole way through.

The first period saw no scoring, but it was still a tightly played period with both teams firing nine shots, although the Stars did a slightly better job of getting better chances out of those plays. The Stars stepped it up even more in the second, but it still wasn’t until the final five minutes of the period that we saw the first goal of the game, as Roope Hintz swiped the puck from Jamie Oleksiak in the neutral zone to get some open ice and snipe it home.

Then came along the third period, and while many expected significantly more pressure from the Kraken, the Stars did a good job shutting them down, not so much by allowing no chances, but by keeping the play even despite the desperation from the Kraken. That play was rewarded with another goal midway through the third, as Wyatt Johnston caught the Seattle sleeping and beat out Evgenii Dadonov’s icing that was sort of a pass, and Johnston had some space as well and roofed the puck past Philipp Grubauer.

That just about did it for the game. The Kraken got a goal from Oliver Bjorkstrand with just 19 seconds left in the game, which, combined with the two goals he scored in Game 7 against the Colorado Avalanche, made him Seattle’s only Game 7 goal scorer in franchise history. But, it was a bit too late to mount a comeback, and the Stars took the game 2-1 to win the series. No one had more than one point in the game because it was all a goalie show, with Grubauer stopped 26 of 28 in the loss, while Jake Oettinger had his best game of the series by stopping 22 of 23 to win it for the Stars.

With the win, the Dallas Stars advance to the Western Conference Final for the first time since their Stanley Cup Final run in the COVID-19 playoff bubble in 2020. They will also face the team that they played in that 2020 West Final series in the Vegas Golden Knights, the only time they’ve faced the Golden Knights in the playoffs.

The Kraken go into the offseason with over $18 million in salary cap and 10 draft picks, giving them plenty of room and assets to keep adding to this team. While they do have six unrestricted free agents and five restricted free agents, the only one that will be a significant cost is defenseman Vince Dunn after a season that made him a dark horse Norris candidate.