A short-side wrist shot by Tye Kartye in the second period of Saturday’s latest second-round thriller was the biggest indicator yet that this Kraken playoff party had at least another night to run.
Kartye’s goal put his team up by three, chased Dallas Stars netminder Jake Oettinger and unleashed a wild Climate Pledge Arena celebration in which the Kraken rookie pounded his fist, thumped the side glass and nearly leapt out of his skates with adrenaline. His fired-up team held on from there for a 6-3 victory that sets up a decisive Game 7 on Monday night at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
“That goal by Kartye … taking that shot and going to the blocker side, that was an amazing shot,” said Kraken forward Yanni Gourde, whose first-period goal helped his team open the scoring for the first time since Game 3. “You can see the confidence he seems to have in his game since he got to the NHL. It’s a lot of fun watching these young guys come in and play the game the way that they have.”
More Kraken youngsters contributed as well as rookie Matty Beniers scored a fifth goal for his squad against new Dallas netminder Scott Wedgewood in the third period. Waiver-wire pickup Eeli Tolvanen added another earlier on during a three-point night as the Kraken forced their second consecutive Game 7 in as many series. Jordan Eberle sealed things with his second goal on an empty net in the final minute to move his team within a victory of reaching the Western Conference Final against either Vegas or Edmonton.
“It’s a Game 7 — I mean, who knows what’s going to happen?” Gourde said. “But Game 7, we’re giving ourselves a chance, and we’re excited about the challenge and the opportunity to do it one more time and go in and get a win on the road.
“But we’ve got to think about the first two shifts and not look too far ahead. Like I said, Game 7s are big and you can’t let your head get too far ahead of things. You can’t let your thoughts get ahead of you. You just have to focus on the moment.”
With the Kraken facing elimination at home for the first time in franchise history, they came out storming with first-period goals by Gourde and Eberle sandwiched around a Mason Marchment counter for Dallas. The Kraken were just 2-3 at home this postseason and had suffered one-sided defeats in all three losses, but they served notice early on that this contest might be different — outshooting Dallas 16-5 in the opening frame.
“Our transition was faster, and I thought we got to the net a little bit quicker,” Gourde said.
The game really turned early in the second period when Oliver Bjorkstrand carried the puck deep into the Stars’ zone, dished it off to Tolvanen for an easy shot into a vacated right side of the net. Fewer than three minutes later, Kartye found himself in the left faceoff circle and wristed a puck Oettinger’s way that the goalie — who has struggled throughout this playoff round — let get by him.
“We just stayed on our toes, and we played aggressively,” said Eberle, who drew an assist for his own three-point game. “I think that’s what we have to do. We don’t want to come out in that situation and sit back and go into the summer wondering why.”
The crowd and Kartye went wild after his goal made it 4-1 and the Stars wisely pulled Oettinger knowing they’d need him two nights later for a potential Game 7. That still wasn’t guaranteed yet as Joe Pavelski scored his eighth of the series off a power-play deflection with just over 14 minutes remaining to play in the second period.
Dallas continued to pour it on that middle frame, outshooting the Kraken 12-8 overall and forcing goalie Philipp Grubauer into some key saves. The Kraken survived the remainder of the period, then saw the Stars hit a pair of goal posts early in the final frame.
Vince Dunn took a holding penalty at 6:19 of the third, but the Kraken staved off the man advantage. Not long after, Eberle sent Beniers in alone with a pass, and the Kraken rookie beat Wedgewood with a snap shot to the short side. Joel Kiviranta struck back for Dallas just 15 seconds later to ensure a nail-biting finish before Eberle’s empty netter.
“It’s the second round and Game 7 of the (playoffs), the pressure’s going to be on both teams,” Eberle said. “I think for us, we’ve obviously been through as a group once and that (Dallas) group has probably been through a few before. But that’s all you can ask for. These games are what makes playoff hockey fun.”
Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said after a Game 5 loss that his team needed to come out aggressively, get inside on the Dallas defenders and make life difficult for Oettinger. Dallas has yet to win a game in which they haven’t scored first, and the early Kraken jump put the Stars on their heels.
“We were trying to get traffic, trying to get to that hard area,” he said. “Whether it’s getting through the goaltender’s eyes or being able to stick around, hang around and find a rebound, we were committed to doing that. And that’s a good step for us.”
A step that ignited the home fans and created a wave of energy inside the building that the Kraken rode to one more winner-take-all finish.
“When you feel the momentum in the building and the energy in the building, that was an important way for us to start tonight,” Hakstol said.
And gives them yet another chance at a dream finish.
