Pavelski, Stars defeat Kraken in Game 2, even Western 2nd Round

DALLAS --Joe Pavelski scored his fifth goal in two games, and the Dallas Stars evened their series with the Seattle Kraken with a 4-2 win in Game 2 of the Western Conference Second Round at American Airlines Center on Thursday.

"I don't know what he's bad at, whether it's golf or playing cards or air hockey," Stars forward Tyler Seguin said of Pavelski. "We wanted to win that first round for him, and he's come back and given us five goals in six periods, so we want some more from him."

Seguin and Wyatt Johnston each had a goal and an assist, and Jake Oettinger made 25 saves for the Stars, the No. 2 seed in the Central Division.

Game 3 is in Seattle on Sunday.

"I think the great teams, the ones that have won it all, their records are always crazy after losses," Oettinger said. "They brush themselves off. They take the good and learn from the bad, and they forget it pretty quickly. These series are long, every game is huge. That's what it's all about is the response, and we've been great at that."

Tye Kartye and Jordan Eberle scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 33 saves for the Kraken, the first wild card from the West.

"He made big saves getting us through the PK. [Grubauer] was good tonight," Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. "He's done a nice job for our hockey team, and he did that again tonight. We didn't give him enough support tonight."

Pavelski scored on the power play to give Dallas a 3-1 lead at 16:57 of the second period when he put in a rebound as he drove the net.

"They pressed hard. I think they played a lot more together than we did, and that's where we saw ourselves get exposed," Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn said. "We'll just have to look at that and learn from it. I think we made the game a lot harder than it needed to be on each other."

RELATED: [Video: SEA@DAL, Gm2: Pavelski puts home loose puck for PPG]

Seguin extended the lead to 4-1 at 10:59 of the third period when he deflected a Thomas Harley point shot.

Eberle cut it to 4-2 at 16:32 after Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen's stick broke taking a shot. Eberle picked up the puck as Heiskanen retreated to the Dallas zone, but Eberle skated around him and scored short side under the bar.

Johnston gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 3:43 of the second period when he tipped Colin Miller's shot from the top of the left face-off circle off Grubauer's chest and poked the rebound between the goalie's legs.

"He just keeps doing it every night and he does it different ways," Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. "Greasy goal tonight around the front of the net. He's also great defensively. He's also out with the goalie out in the last two minutes of the game. He kills penalties for us. Not much else to say. Just a great young player and excited to see what he's capable of turning into."

Evgenii Dadonov made it 2-0 at 9:05 on a wraparound, with the puck just clearing the line before it hit Grubauer's pad.

Kartye cut it to 2-1 at 11:05 on a shot from the top of the left circle.

"I think we had a slow start. We just weren't playing our game," Kartye said. "We got back to it a little bit, but against a team like that, we've got to do that for a whole 60 minutes to beat them."

NOTES:Pavelski tied Steve Payne (1981) as the only players in Stars/Minnesota North Stars history with five goals in a two-game span in the postseason. Pavelski is the eighth active player with five goals in a two-game span, and the second to do so to open a series (Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche; five goals, Games 1 and 2, 2021 first round). … Stars forward Max Domi (assist) has seven points (one goal, six assists) in a four-game point streak. … Dallas center Roope Hintz (assist) has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in eight games, matching his playoff high from 2020, when he had 13 points in 25 games.