Stars defeated by Kraken, lose ground in wild card race

SEATTLE --The Dallas Stars lost ground in the wild card race with a 4-1 loss to the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday.

John Klingberg scored, and Jake Oettinger made 25 saves for Dallas (39-26-3), which had won three in a row and trails the Vegas Golden Knights by one point for the second wild card from the Western Conference.
"This one stings a little bit because you come in 3-0 (on four-game road trip) you fully expect to go come with eight points," Stars forward Joe Pavelski said. "Throughout a season you're thinking that's a pretty good trip, but with the situation we're in, you can be a little greedy and selfish and you wanted that fourth one. So we'd like to have that last one."
Chris Driedger, who was making his third start in four games, made 29 saves, and Jared McCann scored a shorthanded goal for Seattle (22-41-6), which had lost two straight.
"We go into the third with the lead and they came out pretty hot, and I just tried to do my thing and give us a chance," Driedger said. "Feels good to win. For me, I think just a couple of little tweaks and getting some confidence and just kind of doing my thing in there. So it's been a lot of fun and what an effort by the guys tonight. Fun to watch."

McCann gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead at 3:55 of the first period. Alex Wennberg carried the puck through the neutral zone and passed to McCann, who caught the Stars in a line change and shot glove side from the left circle.
Ryan Donato made it 2-0 at 4:53 of the third period. After receiving a stretch pass from Carson Soucy, Donato skated in alone down the right wing, deked Oettinger and tucked the puck inside the right post.
"The one big thing that we wanted to make sure we didn't do in the third is feed their transition," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "We talked about defending well and then it's automatically you're gonna look for that quick transition. Our guys did a good job of pushing on possession and finding those opportunities. They don't just happen, you got to read possession, you got to go and then somebody's got to make the play to get it there, and we did that."

Klingberg cut it to 2-1 at 14:24 when he shot through a screen from above the circles, but Yanni Gourde made it 3-1 at 17:47 when he got behind the Stars defense and beat Oettinger blocker side on a breakaway.
Dallas outshot Seattle 14-6 in the third period.
"I had a look there where [Driedger] makes a great save on the back door," Pavelski said. "I thought I waited him out, got enough net to put it in, and I hit the post there. Those are the frustrating ones that you'd like to have back, that you expect to get more often than not. I think everybody had a few looks there where they get a stick on it or we hit the post, or he made a good save. Tonight, it didn't go in the net."
Karson Kuhlman shot into an empty net at 19:19 for the 4-1 final.
"I've been impressed by the work ethic of our team," Hakstol said. "We've been able to play with a lot of the changes, and some of the individuals that have stepped forward and are proving themselves and doing good things night after night. So we want to continue that, it's a busy month. We got a long month in front of us, but let's try to have some fun. Let's play our [tails] off and win games and have some fun together."
NOTES: Dallas defenseman Jani Hakanpää was a late scratch after being struck in the face by a puck during warmups. … Donato's goal was his 14th this season, tying his NHL career high set with the Minnesota Wild in 2019-20.