Stars pad Central lead with win against Kraken

SEATTLE -- Six players had multipoint games for the Dallas Stars, who padded their lead in the Central Division with a 5-2 win against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Monday.

Jamie Benn had a goal and two assists, Miro Hesikanen had three assists and Joe Pavelski, Evgenii Dadonov, Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson each had a goal and an assist for the Stars (37-17-13), who went 3-for-4 on the power play and moved three points ahead of the Minnesota Wild in the Central. Jake Oettinger made 26 saves.
The Stars have won three in a row, including 4-3 in overtime here Saturday. They visit the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.
"It was an important four points," Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. "You look at the standings and we're in a fight for first in the division, first in the conference. They're in a battle for playoff positioning. They've been playing great all year, so this was a real test for us coming in here for two games and I thought our group really responded."

Yanni Gourde and Eeli Tolvanen scored, and Vince Dunn had two assists for the Kraken (37-23-7), who lost the final three of a four-game homestand (1-2-1) and remained one point ahead of the Edmonton Oilers for third place in the Pacific Division. Martin Jones made 27 saves.
Seattle has lost five of its past six at home (1-4-1).
"Bottom line, we didn't get job done. At the end of the day that's what matters," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "There's a couple there that we made mistakes on with where our positioning was, where our sticks are.
" … We've been a group that's been able to turn the page and go back to the next job at hand. This group has to be able to do that again."

Dadonov gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 3:13 of the first period. Johnston's centering feed went off Seattle defenseman Adam Larsson and the end boards before Dadonov swatted it past Jones.
Benn made it 2-0 on a power play, scoring on a rebound from the left face-off circle at 5:43. It was Benn's third goal in four games.
Gourde cut it to 2-1 at 15:00 on a rebound after Dunn's one-timer from the point went off the end boards.
"We had a couple of good shifts in there, guys were pushing," Hakstol said. "In terms of the effort, the mentality on the bench was still good. We couldn't push any momentum."

Pavelski gave the Stars a 3-1 lead with a power-play goal at 3:02 of the second period, redirecting Benn's feed in the slot.
Tolvanen cut it to 3-2 at 13:28, but Johnston made it 4-2 just 14 seconds later at 13:42. He eluded Kraken forward Daniel Sprong and stuffed a shot past Jones after Dadonov chipped the puck to Johnston at the blue line.
The Stars scored their third power-play goal of the game just 40 seconds into the third period with a one-timer from Robertson for the 5-2 final. It was his 39th goal of the season.
"It's huge," Johnston said. "Especially you're on the road and just getting like three goals on the power play, it's always, always a big help."
NOTES: Dunn extended his point streak to 10 games (three goals, 12 assists), the longest active streak in the NHL and a Kraken record. He has 35 points since Jan. 1, the most in the League by a defenseman … Heiskanen extended his NHL career-high point streak to seven games (three goals, nine assists).