Kraken pull away from Stars with 5 goals in 2nd, win Game 3

SEATTLE --The Seattle Kraken scored five goals in the second period of a 7-2 win against the Dallas Stars in Game 3 of the Western Conference Second Round at Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday.

Seattle leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 will be here on Tuesday.

Matty Beniers, Eeli Tolvanen, Alex Wennberg, and Justin Schultz each had a goal and an assist for the Kraken, who are the first wild card from the Western Conference. Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves.

"That is definitely playoffs for you," Beniers said. "Last series (against the Colorado Avalanche) was kind of my first glimpse of it, but you get one in your own building, the crowd starts going nuts, you get some real momentum, get on your toes. The other team is kind of sitting back a little bit … and then you just start popping them in. … We definitely capitalized on the momentum today."

Jake Oettinger was pulled after allowing five goals on 17 shots in two periods for the Stars, who are the No. 2 seed from the Central Division. Scott Wedgewood made six saves in relief.

"We didn't really help [Oettinger] out at all," Dallas captain Jamie Benn said. "He'll be fine, he'll bounce back. He's a great goaltender, and that's what they do."

RELATED: [Complete Stars vs. Kraken series coverage]

After a scoreless first period, the game turned at 2:10 of the second, when Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen was hit in the face by a shot from Tye Kartye that deflected off the stick of Ryan Suter.

With Heiskanen crumpled to the side of the crease, Jordan Eberle gathered the loose puck, spun from his backhand to forehand, and caught Oettinger sliding the opposite way to give the Kraken a 1-0 lead.

"An unfortunate bounce for them," Eberle said. "It's always weird because you want to finish the play and you see him lying there, so that's always tough, but it was lying there and I just tried to go backhand-forehand and was lucky enough to put it in. It's a tough play when a guy is lying there, but you just try to finish it out."

Heiskanen, who has seven assists in nine games and entered Sunday first in the NHL in average time on ice in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (29:45), was bleeding just above his mouth and did not return to the game.

"Don't have anything yet. Pretty bad cut, so we'll know more tomorrow," Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. "I think he would have liked to have come back. I think that we talked about it. I think that for sure the score played a part in that."

Seattle scored on its next three shots on goal.

Wennberg made it 2-0 at 3:36 of the second, taking a drop pass from Jaden Schwartz on a 2-on-2 rush and roofing a shot over Oettinger's left shoulder from the top of the right circle.

Carson Soucy pushed it to 3-0 at 6:30, sneaking a shot five-hole from the left circle after making a move around Mason Marchment at the point. He is the 16th player to score for the Kraken this postseason.

"The biggest thing from our team all year has been our depth," Eberle said. "You get scoring like that from every line, that's huge."

Beniers made it 4-0 at 8:22 with a soft wrist shot short side from the top of the left circle. The goal came shortly after Grubauer stopped Roope Hintz on a partial breakaway.

"That's a big part of keeping the momentum is him making those big saves," Beniers said. "We feed off those."

Marchment cut it to 4-1 at 12:40, scoring with a one-timer from the right circle off a cross-ice pass from Evgenii Dadonov on a 3-on-1.

However, Tolvanen extended it to 5-1 at 19:22 after Oettinger punched a loose puck to him just above the crease.

"We probably deserved what we got," Benn said. "They were the hungrier team. They executed and took advantage of their opportunities."

Yanni Gourde scored a short-handed goal on the first shot Wedgewood faced to make it 6-1 at 1:49 of the third. He buried a one-timer into an open net off a pass from Brandon Tanev on a 2-on-1.

Video: DAL@SEA, Gm3: Kraken score five goals in the 2nd made it 6-2 at 7:00 with a shot from the right point off a face-off win by Benn.

Schultz scored a power-play goal from the point at 17:30 for the 7-2 final.

"They grabbed that momentum and ran with it, and we didn't have a response," DeBoer said. "We didn't stop the bleeding. We gave up all kinds of different goals and opportunities. I wish it was one thing. I'll have to look at that tape, but they were better in just about every area than us tonight."

NOTES:The Kraken are the fifth team in the past 25 years to have 16 different goal-scorers through their first 10 playoff games, joining the Avalanche (2022), Vegas Golden Knights (2020), Columbus Blue Jackets (2019) and Detroit Red Wings (2011). … Seattle forward Daniel Sprong left at 11:21 of the second period after taking a hit in the corner. "No update other than obviously not available for the remainder of the game. We'll have an update, whether it's tomorrow or the next day," coach Dave Hakstol said. … Kraken forward Jared McCann, who has not played since Game 4 of the first round on April 24 because of an undisclosed injury, practiced without a red non-contact jersey at the morning skate.