One: Expect the Push
Sunday, the Kraken scored seven goals, including five in the second period and two pairs of response goals in 6:12 of playing time, on the way to chasing Dallas' Jake Oettinger from the net and winning Game 3 to establish a 2-1 series lead. But much like the Kraken refused to be beat down by a Game 2 loss that wasn't their best effort, expect the Stars to mount a significant effort in Game 4. After all, even though when going into a Game 3 with a series tied 1-1 the Stars are 3-9 since 2003, the most recent of those games was in Round 1 and Dallas went on to win the next three games and the series.
"We took a 2-1 lead, (but) it's a race to 4," Dave Hakstol said Monday. "We know and understand and respect how competitive and how good of a team Dallas is. We're pretty aware and, I think, intelligent enough to know coming back in Game 4 (the Stars) are going to push back. All we can do is take care of ourselves. It's what we've done all year. Try to understand what the situation is and make sure we prepare ourselves as well as we can to do the things that we know are necessary to help us be successful."
