One: Winning Route on Display in Saturday’s Second Period

DALLAS – The Kraken players, coaches, and support staff formed a happy group on the team plane from St. Louis to Texas. The squad was three seconds away from a road loss to the Blues, but instead scored with two seconds left in regulation, and then Shane Wright scored his first NHL overtime winner at 1:57 of extra time with a rousing and tidy two minutes of time on ice. It ranks right up there with the best regular-season Kraken games during the first five seasons (by the way, the incomparable John Forslund thought it and said it first).

Not to be lost in all of the revelry is the 20 minutes of Saturday night’s second period. It stands as a model of what and how coach Lane Lambert intends for his squad to win games through structure and opportunistic offense. Trailing 2-0 at first intermission, the Kraken limited St. Louis to five shots on the goal in the middle frame, containing the Blues to just one shot for a sizeable portion of the period. That’s step 1.

Step 2 is Seattle totaled 15 shots on goal, generating scoring chances off its stellar defensive play and overall puck hounding, plus shooting the puck with intent to both score and/or create second chances if the puck didn’t go in on the first try. Eeli Tolvanen’s first goal of the season developed because the Finnish winger was in position on the power play to effectively one-time a rebound after Vince Dunn drilled a shot that STL goalie Joel Hofer turned away but couldn’t control.

Step 3 is getting bodies to the net, as demonstrated by fourth-line center Ben Meyers screening St. Louis goaltender Joel Hoffer on Ryker Evans’ goal to open the Kraken scoring. Hofer was coming off four straight periods of not allowing a goal after shutting out Buffalo on Thursday.

“We always talk about second periods and how you can either take advantage of teams or they take advantage of you,” said Lambert Saturday post-game. “I thought we did a really good job of managing the puck in that period. And with a long change, we were able to have some [offensive] zone time for sure. Overall, our mentality in the game was a lot better. And give our guys full credit for bouncing back.”

Two: Evans Strengthens ‘O’ and ‘D’, Tolvanen Poised for More Goals?

There were plenty of standout and gritty performances on the first leg of this short weekend trip. Chandler Stephenson picking up another clutch goal on a mid-range shot is a positive trend. Shane Wright scoring in overtime is something he expects to do as a player who was No. 4 overall in a 2022 NHL Draft class, making significant noise across the NHL this season, Wright included.

For his part, Lambert praised the nights of Evans and Tolvanen when queries about the second period goal scorers.

“I thought [Ryker] was outstanding, actually,” said Lambert about the young defenseman’s return. “It’s not just the numbers he put up [goal and assist], but he’s also a great skater.”

Lambert was clear that he had liked Tolvanen’s overall play this season, even without scoring goals. The coaching staff exhibited that trust by keeping him on the power play despite varying his line assignments during even-strength play this season.

“[Tolvi] played well,” said the Kraken coach. “It’s nice to see him get rewarded finally with the goal and three-point night. We certainly feel like he’s done a lot of good things up until now. He just hasn’t lit the [goal] lamp … hopefully this just kind of catapults him into some offense.”

Three: Know the Foe: Stars Up and Down

Dallas started the season with three straight wins, then a four-game losing streak. They reset with another three-game win streak before losing three of their last five games (albeit earning six of the 10 possible points). The Stars prevailed on the road Saturday at Nashville, 5-4. So both teams flew post-game to meet in Dallas. Jake Oettinger was in goal against the Predators, so Casey DeSmith is likely to start for the Stars. Mikko Rantanen leads Dallas with eight goals and 13 assists for 21 points in 15 games. Young star Wyatt Johnston leads the club with nine goals and has added 10 assists for 19 points in 15 games.

Projected Lines (not official):

Schwartz – Beniers – Kakko
Marchment – Stephenson – Eberle
Catton – Wright – Winterton
Kartye – Meyers – Tolvanen

Dunn – Larsson
Lindgren – Montour
Evans – Oleksiak

Murray