Stars defeat Kraken, clinch Central Division
Heiskanen has goal, 2 assists for Dallas, which has won 11 of 13
Recap: Kraken at Stars 4.13.24
By
Taylor Baird
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
“It’s great for sure to win it, but the job is far from done,” Heiskanen said. “It’s just the first step. We’ve got a long way to go. I think we’re defending really well right now. We don’t give much, and [Jake Oettinger] and [Scott Wedgewood] have been really good in net. The defense has been really good and have scored some goals too. Played some good offense but I think our defensive game has been a lot better lately.”
Jason Robertson had a goal and an assist, and Oettinger made 26 saves for Dallas (51-21-9), which has won 11 of its past 13 games. The Stars could have clinched the Western Conference if the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, but Vancouver won 3-1.
“I thought it was a great game for us to get ready for the playoffs,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “I credit Seattle for that. I thought they played hard, didn’t give us much. We talked at the end of the first period, like ‘This is going to be like a playoff game. The rush has dried up, they’re not giving you easy rush goals. You’ve got to earn your goals, you’ve got to find your ice in the offensive zone, you’ve got to grind a little bit.’ I thought they made us do that tonight, which, from a coaching perspective, is great heading into the playoffs.”
Kailer Yamamoto scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves for Seattle (33-33-13), which has been eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention. The Kraken have three games remaining on a season-ending four-game road trip.
“We need to win the last couple for our fans and for the city,” Grubauer said. “Today wasn’t it, but we get a chance for tomorrow (against the St. Louis Blues).”
Dallas took a 1-0 lead with three seconds remaining in the first period when Craig Smith tipped in a point shot from Robertson.
“I thought the first period was an excellent road period,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We gave one up with a second and a half to go and that took away from what was a real good first period. We did a pretty good job overall today. A little bit too much against in the second period. Probably for me in the game offensively [the key] was not being able to capitalize on the number of outnumbered rushes we had.”
Dallas forward Sam Steel was stopped by Grubauer on a penalty shot at 8:52 of the second period. It was awarded when Seattle defenseman Jamie Oleksiak was called for covering the puck in the crease with his glove.
Robertson extended the lead to 2-0 at 19:23 on a 5-on-3 power play. He scored on a shot from the high slot that beat Grubauer high to the glove side.
“It’s hard to win in this league. Some teams have dropped some good teams,” Smith said. “We keep pressing and we recalibrated between periods and tried to make some changes, which is huge. It’s what we’re going to have to do in the playoffs anyway, so it’s a good test for us. No team is easy to play in this league, so we’ll take it.”
Heiskanen made it 3-0 at 12:23 of the third period from the right side. His shot on a wraparound deflected off Grubauer’s mask.
“Honestly, I thought we played a good game all around,” Yamamoto said. “Obviously, that goal at the end [of the first] was a great tip. Nothing you can really do about that one, but it was a great tip. That gave them a little bit of life. The second they came out playing and take a 5-on-3 and score, it’s another tough one. The last goal was a weird bounce, and no one really knew where it was besides Heiskanen. He walks around and [Grubauer] basically has it, but it was just a bad bounce off his shoulder. We played well tonight, honestly.”
Yamamoto cut it to 3-1 at 14:11 off a centering pass from Tomas Tatar after Seattle forced a turnover on the forecheck.
“Proud of the guys and just the body of work over the last six months has been impressive,” Oettinger said. “We should be feeling good about ourselves. We want to play as many games as we can here in the playoffs. It’s just a full year of hard work and consistency. Obviously, we want to hang more important banners than that.”
NOTES: The Stars clinched their division for the 11th time in franchise history and first since 2015-16. … Dallas is 29-6-5 when scoring first this season.
