The demands of a seven-game series in the opening round and the immediate transition into the conference semifinals left the Seattle Kraken needing a breather.
An extra day off proved wonders for the playoff newcomers.
Jordan Eberle sparked a five-goal outburst in the second period with his fourth goal of the playoffs, Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves and the Kraken beat the Dallas Stars 7-2 on Sunday night to take a 2-1 series lead in their Western Conference semifinal.
“We’ve been going steady here every other day since the start of the playoffs,” Eberle said. “So you get a couple of days off, not just for your body but for your mind, too.”
Seven different Seattle players scored and 12 different players picked up a point as the rejuvenated Kraken took control of the series.
Eberle got it all started as the recipient of an unfortunate bounce, beating Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger at 2:10 of the second period after the puck hit Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen in the face and fell to Eberle’s stick.
That was just the start. Alex Wennberg doubled the lead 1:26 after Eberle’s goal; Carson Soucy became Seattle’s 16th different goal scorer this postseason, beating Oettinger five-hole at 6:30; and Matty Beniers made it 4-0 at 8:22.
Seattle’s first four shots of the period beat Oettinger, and the Kraken made it 5-1 when Eeli Tolvanen finished a rebound with 37 seconds left in the period.
“We wanted to get into it early. I think that’s why the physical play helped us and then after our first period, we kind of realized we’re fresh, we got some momentum and then we just took it and ran in the second,” Soucy said.
It was the second time in three games of the series that Oettinger had surrendered five goals after Dallas lost the opener 5-4 in overtime. Oettinger gave up four goals in the first period of Game 1 and Seattle became the first team this postseason to score five times in a single period.
Oettinger had 12 saves on 17 shots and was replaced for the third period by backup Scott Wedgewood. Wedgewood was greeted with a short-handed breakaway by Seattle and Yanni Gourde’s third goal of the playoffs on the Kraken’s first shot of the third period. Justin Schultz added a seventh for Seattle with 2:30 left on the power play.
Game 4 is Tuesday night.
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