Series Essentials | Kraken at Stars | 6:30 p.m.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT
You remember the Dallas Stars. The Kraken saw them three times in ten days in mid-March. That felt like a bit of a playoff series in which Seattle came away with a 1-1-1 record. Now Dallas is the Kraken's second round opponent after the Stars beat Minnesota in six games. That last point bears some weight. With that series ending on Friday, they've had a couple extra days of rest compared to the Kraken who flew to Dallas Monday after their Game 7 win over the Avalanche.
Much like Colorado, there are some big offensive weapons to be aware of if you're the Kraken. Of the ten post-season goal scorers on the Stars roster, five (Roope Hintz, Tyler Seguin, Evgenii Dadonov, Mason Marchment, and Jason Robertson) have potted more than one. Hintz (5-7-12) has the most points of any NHL player this playoffs and the second most by a Stars player in a single postseason series ever. His 6.26 points per 60 minutes of play rate is the highest of any skater to play in at least four games this post-season.
As a whole offensively, while Dallas is generating shots and quality at the third-highest rate in the playoffs, they haven't been as effective at getting to the dangerous areas of the ice as they were in the regular season, but watch for the return of Joe Pavelski. He left Dallas' first game against the Wild after being hit by Minnesota's Matt Dumba and did not return for the remainder of the series. He has been skating with his teammates the past two days and did take line rushes in Monday's practice. Pavelski is a master at net front play and tapped in three goals against the Kraken in the regular season.

Defensively, Dallas has been solid in the post-season, but a possible area of opportunity lies in the forecheck. No other playoff team allowed more scoring chances this way than the Stars - and the Kraken do love to thrive off this style of pressure-driven play.
But even if you can break through the defense, there's one more big challenge and that lies in goaltender Jake Oettinger. In the post-season, he's been excellent registering four quality starts and one shutout. If you look at goaltenders who've played at least two games, his 4.43 goals saved above expectation ranks third in the NHL playoffs as does his overall save percentage (92.68%).
With all of that in mind, what are some keys to Kraken success? Let's take a look.
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##### KRAKEN KEYS
In the Gruuve
Oettinger is a difference-making player. But the Kraken have had one of those in their net this playoffs, too. Philipp Grubauer - who faced the Stars in only one of their three regular-season meetings - has been outstanding across all seven games played against Colorado. Thus far, in all situations, he's faced the most shots against of any post-season goaltender (231), the third most shot quality (21.02 expected goals) and still ranked fourth in goals saved above expectations (4.02), just .7 below his Dallas opponent. That's good enough to earn him four quality starts and one steal thus far. Grubauer will need to continue to be this good against another high-powered offense in the Stars.

Keep Killing It
The Kraken penalty kill has been strong in the calendar year 2023 and was exemplary in Round 1. In the post-season, Seattle was tied for taking the third-fewest minor penalties (22) of any playoff squad and allowed just two goals against. Grubauer was also a big part of the special team's success coming in with the most goals saved above expected (2.47) while facing the second most shots against (35, Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky faced 36) when short-handed. All of this combined to make the Kraken penalty kill the second most effective through seven games played (88.9%).
But the Stars present another big test.
Dallas generated the third-highest shot quality totals per 60 minutes of play and scored nine of their 21 post-season goals on the power play. That ties Edmonton for the second most power-play goals of any first-round team and is the highest percentage of goals (43%) that came on the skater advantage for any squad. Tyler Seguin is a player who has been leading the way with four power-play goals - he's the first Dallas player to do that in any one post-season series.
Trust Your Identity
If anyone doubted what got the Kraken to this point, the 15 different goal scorers on the roster (most this post-season) reinforced how important depth has been to the team's success. Not only does it make each line a threat to put the puck in the net, it allows for a bit more balance in ice time meaning no one player or line has to risk being overworked to drive scoring. The Kraken have already bested a team that relied more specifically on top players, this will be an opportunity to see if they can do it again.
Kraken faithful will also keep an eye out for Jared McCann's possible return. One of the very few Seattle skaters to not yet put a puck in the net, the 40-goal scorer was injured in Game 4 of the Colorado series. The priority is the player's health always and if he is able to come back to play, he'd only augment a roster already deep with scoring ability.
Stay Loose
There were a lot of voices outside the Kraken locker room that didn't think this team would make it to the post-season, let alone win a round. When it came to belief, that had to come from the Kraken group itself, no one else. And it has. Relying on internal knowledge of what they can do has allowed the Seattle squad to keep external pressures at bay and build, as Vince Dunn has called it, "contagious confidence." Keeping that energy will be an important ingredient as the competition rises with every game to come.
##### BY THE NUMBERS
- Only three rookies have scored a goal in this year's playoffs: Matty Beniers, Tye Kartye, and Dallas' Wyatt Johnston. - In the post-season, Seattle ranks first overall in fewest penalties taken per game (2.9) and has the second-best PK while Dallas ranks fourth overall even though they are averaging five penalties per game through Round 1. - Dallas has drawn the second most penalties this postseason (4.7 per game). - Seattle is keeping the net front clear in the playoffs ranking fourth in generating rebound chances and second in limiting them against. - Among the teams who have advanced to Round 2, nine forward lines have been on the ice for at least three goals for. Each team in this game has two: the Oliver Bjorkstrand-Yanni Gourde-Eeli Tolvanen has five goals (2nd overall); and the combinations of Jamie Benn-Johnston-Dadonov; Mason Marchment-Max Domi-Ty Dellandrea; and Jaden Schwartz-Alex Wennberg-Morgan Geekie each have three.