Stars edge Kraken in Game 7, advance to Western Conference Final

DALLAS --The Dallas Stars advanced to the Western Conference Final with a 2-1 win against the Seattle Kraken in Game 7 of the second round at American Airlines Center on Monday.

The Stars will next face the Vegas Golden Knights, who eliminated the Edmonton Oilers with a 5-2 win in Game 6 of that series Sunday. It is Dallas' first trip to the conference final since 2020, when it also played Vegas (won series in five games).

"It was our best team game of the playoffs," Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. "I knew our group would respond (from the 6-3 loss in Game 6 on Saturday). They have all year individually and collectively as a team, and they didn't disappoint."

DeBoer, who coached the Golden Knights against the Stars in 2020, is 7-0 in Game 7s. He is also the first coach in NHL history to lead four different teams to the conference final/semifinal round of the postseason in his first season as coach (New Jersey Devils, 2012; San Jose Sharks, 2016).

"Vegas," DeBoer said. "There's a lot to unpack there. I think we'll just enjoy tonight and talk about that as we go forward."

RELATED: [Video: SEA@DAL, Gm7: Hintz steals the puck and scores]

Roope Hintz and Wyatt Johnston scored for the Stars, who are the No. 2 seed from the Central Division.

Jake Oettinger, who was pulled in the second period of Game 6, made 22 saves. He is 5-0 following a loss in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after going 17-1-3 during the regular season.

"I don't think I had my best series of my career, but it shows how good of a team we are," Oettinger said. "I feel like my best hockey is still ahead of me. Just goes to show how good of a team we have. That's playoff hockey. It's ups and downs. You think you might be out of it and next you're going to the conference final.

"When you asked me if you think you can win (the Stanley Cup), I feel like not every year you can honestly say yes. I think this year I feel like we can win it. We have everything. When we play the way we want to play and we do the little things right, I think we can beat anyone."

Oliver Bjorkstrand scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 26 saves for the Kraken, who were the first wild card from the West.

"We pushed as hard as we could push tonight, we just couldn't find our top gear," Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. "Give Dallas a lot of credit in that regard. To a certain degree, they answered the game that we played in Game 6. They came home to their home building and put us under pressure. As we got into that second period, that's where they tilted the game in their direction."

Hintz gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 15:59 of the second period. He stole the puck from Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak at the blue line, skated in with speed, and roofed a shot over Grubauer's blocker.

Hintz is second in the NHL in goals (nine) and points (19) this postseason.

"I think this was our best game of the series today," Hintz said. "Everyone was in today. We did work everywhere on the ice. We tried to play simple and then we worked with our feet."

Johnston made it 2-0 at 12:48 of the third period. He got behind the defense and chased down a clearing attempt from Evgenii Dadonov before skating to the net along the goal line and lifting in a backhand off the left shoulder of Grubauer.

"What a goal," DeBoer said. "It's not just a goal, it's a goal that, it's hard to explain. I don't know how many players would think about doing that, never mind pull it off and score like that on that play. It's an elite, world-class play by one of the youngest players in the League (Johnston turned 20 on Sunday). Just phenomenal."

Bjorkstrand scored with 19 seconds remaining to cut it to 2-1.

"Unfortunately, I couldn't make the stop on the second goal, but we battled back, we got a goal there to make it 2-1, and, unfortunately, we ran out of time," Grubauer said.

The Kraken had a chance to tie it after Jaden Schwartz won an offensive-zone face-off with 10 seconds remaining, but Vince Dunn's shot from the point was calmly steered aside by Oettinger.

"From Day One, everyone's kind of written us off," Kraken forward Jordan Eberle said, "so we took a big leap this year. I didn't think anyone expected us to make the playoffs, no one expected us to beat Colorado, and no one expected us to get to seven here. I think we see, as a group, this is the first time we've been through this. You've got to obviously learn how to lose first then find a way to win."

NOTES:Stars defenseman Video: SEA@DAL, Gm7: Hintz steals the puck and scores was a late scratch because of a lower-body injury. He was replaced by Colin Miller, who was plus-1 in 14:17 of ice time. ... Dallas forward Ty Dellandrea was a healthy scratch and replaced by Luke Glendening, who had two shots, four hits, two blocks and went 4-for-6 on face-offs in 12:23 of ice time. ... Johnston (20 years, one day) became the youngest player in NHL history to score a series-clinching goal in Game 7, besting Jaromir Jagr (20 years, 76 days for the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1992 Patrick Division Semifinals).