Final Buzzer: Star Wars

DALLAS, TX- After winning Game 1 of this series in overtime, the Kraken knew they needed to be prepared for a pushback from Dallas. Coming into this game, the Stars had won their last four Game 2's following a Game 1 loss. Tonight, they were able to extend that streak to five.

The game started fairly evenly but boosted by the first power play of the game, the Stars found their footing offensively. And while the Kraken found bursts of energy to respond, overall, Dallas was able to tilt the ice their way with the majority of offensive volume and quality to secure a 4-2 win.

"We didn't spend enough time in the offensive zone tonight, to be honest with you in terms of generating opportunities," Dave Hakstol said. "That's a domino that falls after you are able to gain time in the offensive zone and we didn't do that tonight. It's going to be something that's that'll be a factor in the series, for sure. And something that we'll have to continue to address."

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The series now stands at 1-1 and heads back to Seattle for Games 3 and 4. And one thing is for sure, we now know this will at least be a five-game series.

No Rush

After an initial period in Game 1 that was played at breakneck speed with a total of 42 shot attempts between both teams and six goals. Game 2 started with more control of pace. Early on, Seattle played a tighter game and one that limited Dallas' rush attack. In Game 1, the Stars ended the game with 12 chances off the rush, three of which happened in the first 20 minutes. In the first period Thursday, Dallas had no rush opportunities, and by game's end the Kraken had halved Tuesday's effort allowing six rush chances against.

When the final horn sounded after period one, there were no goals for either team and a total of 27 shot attempts and Dallas was successful on just 33-percent of all of their entry attempts.

Kill Momentum

The start was a clean one until, with 4:16 to go when Carson Soucy sent a puck out of play and was sent to the penalty box for delay of game. The Kraken were able to successfully kill off the penalty, but, perhaps fueled by the fact that they were able to keep the puck in the offensive zone for 1:45 of the 2:00 of power play time. After play returned to even strength, Dallas surged offensively. They had six shot attempts with the skater advantage and four after in the final 2:16 of play.

The trend continued. The Kraken had to kill off a second penalty in the second period. This time, Seattle was more effective - not just in terms of limiting Dallas' offensive opportunities but in terms of creating shorthanded chances for themselves off the sticks of Brandon Tanev and Adam Larsson. But towards the end of the power play, Dallas finally set up in the offensive zone and seven seconds after the penalty expired, Max Domi sent a cross-zone pass to Colin Miller. His shot bounced off Philipp Grubauer to Wyatt Johnston for his second goal of the postseason.

Vince Dunn said that even though there weren't goals on the first two power plays, giving the Stars' top players so many puck touches fed their confidence.

And that's why, after that second goal, the momentum belonged to Dallas. The Stars controlled the pace of play for the majority of the second period and added a second goal when Evgenii Dadonov's wrap around attempt beat Grubauer despite a desperate attempt to provide support by Adam Larsson.

"(The difference in play has) something to do with the power plays that they have tonight," Dave Hakstol said. "Each of the first two power plays, they generate a ton of momentum off of those. . . .We've got to take care of our discipline. (Dallas) is a team that came into the series at 37.5% (power play success rate) feeling pretty good. If they don't capitalize as you saw it tonight they're going to generate momentum out of that."

Always Respond

But the Kraken would find some pushback. Less than two minutes after the Stars' second score, the Seattle forecheck gained possession, and Dunn - who was the second-best of all NHL skaters at completing stretch passes in the regular season -- sent the puck up the ice on a wire to Tye Kartye's stick. Kartye sped into the offensive zone and his shot beat Oettinger in the top left corner of the net to make the score 2-1. That's the third time the Kraken have beaten the Stars goaltender in that spot this series - it's a location where Oettinger has been vulnerable - allowing 11 of his 20 goals against to go in there.

Pavs Pots Another

Joe Pavelski has demanded a lot of attention in the minds of hockey fans across his 15 NHL seasons, and he's certainly making sure Kraken fans are aware of what he's all about. After scoring all four of the Stars' goals in Game 1, he added his fifth goal of the series on Dallas' third power play. Not only did he score, he started the possession with a clean zone entry and later dished the puck to Johnston who got a clean look net front to the left of the Kraken net. The rookie missed his first shot but was able to send the puck into Grubauer's pads. The rebound popped to Pavelski who restored the two-goal lead for the Stars by lifting the puck into the top right corner of Seattle's net.

Final Scores

For the second straight game, the Stars scored four goals against the Kraken. Tyler Seguin netted his fifth of the postseason off a set play from a Stars faceoff win 10:59 into the third period.

But the Kraken weren't done either. Skating with an empty net and six skaters, after Miro Heiskanen lost possession due to a broken stick, Yanni Gourde seized the puck and sent it to Jordan Eberle who was off to the races. On an impressive individual effort, the assistant captain beat Oettinger for the second Seattle goal of the game - again, high blocker.

By The Numbers

Here's a look at our data-driven Instant Analysis from Sportlogiq (click

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for how to read this graphic):