The Kraken entered the final four minutes of Tuesday’s game clinging to a two-goal lead over the Stars.
With the buzzer sounding at the end of the third period, the Stars had erased that advantage. But the Stars’ overtime woes once again appeared as Seattle left American Airlines Center with a 5-4 win.
“It’s an important point for us,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “I wish we would have got two but an important point.”
Tuesday’s game was the third meeting between the Stars and the Kraken in the past two weeks. Dallas had won the previous two in Seattle.
Down 3-1 heading into the third period, the Stars finally found a groove. Wyatt Johnston had been quiet for most of the game except for a stuffed breakaway chance in the first period. But then he found himself free on the back side of the goal. Jamie Benn delivered the pass and Johnston top-shelved the shot into the wide-open net.
The goal caffeinated the Stars, which had spent the previous 30 minutes slowly trying to build something sustainable on offense, and the home crowd.
Brandon Tanev scored with about six minutes left to return the lead to two goals but Ty Dellandra responded immediately with a goal of his own that made the score 4-3. But the referees reviewed it and determined Max Domi had committed goalie interference, taking the goal off the board.
“We’d like to have it,” Domi said. “It’s just how the game goes sometimes.”
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But Joe Pavelski scored soon after to make the score 4-3.
Dallas spent much of the final two minutes of the period in the offensive zone with an empty net and Miro Heiskanen running point around five attackers. The group sustained offensive pressure almost the entire time, putting Joey Daccord on his heels.
The breakthrough happened just in the nick of time when Benn scored his 30th goal of the season with 0.7 seconds left from right outside the crease.
However, the excitement wouldn’t last long as Adam Larsson scored the game-winner for Seattle in overtime.
“I feel great,” said Jake Oettinger, who has allowed 10 goals in the past two games. “I’m really confident in my game. I’ve just let in a lot of goals lately. Just got to do better.”
Daniel Sprong and Tanev were the two stars of the game for the visitors.
Just over two minutes into the third period, Sprong powered a well-placed pass from the boards that Tanev tipped into the net from mid air for the game’s first goal. Heiskanen had added a flukey power play goal for Dallas 90 seconds after but Sprong returned the lead to the Kraken with a nifty no-look shot on a two-on-one opportunity later in the period.
Jared McCann added a goal less than two minutes into the second period to go up 3-1.
“I kind of predicted it coming back off the road like we did that we might start slow,” DeBoer said. “You throw in the fact we’re playing a team that you just swept in their building — a motivated group that’s fighting for their playoff life — I’m not surprised it started the way it did.”
The Stars are now tied for the top spot in the Central Division. About 1,365 miles away in the Garden State, the Wild defeated the Devils in overtime to tie them on points.
Minnesota has 90 points from 71 games while Dallas has 90 from the same amount. The Avalanche, sporting a six-game win streak, sit in third place with 88 points in 69 games.
Twitter: @thepeterwarren
