Breaking Down Stars-Kraken Game 7

Dallas is headed to the Western Conference Final

It was only a one goal game, a 2-1 Dallas Stars victory, but it felt more lopsided.

After allowing the Seattle Kraken to dictate Game 6, the Stars were the aggressors in Game 7 and largely outplayed the visitors to advance to the Western Conference Final.

Philipp Grubauer kept the came closer than it should have been.

At the other end of the ice Jake Oettinger lost the shutout with 18 seconds remaining. He was good when called upon, but unlike Game 7 a year ago in Calgary, he was rarely called upon.

Here are my observations and some things I found interesting from Game 7.

Flippity Flip

Jake Oettinger and Esa Lindell, as of this writing, weren’t credited with assists on Roope Hintz’ second period goal.

They probably should have been.

The entire play starts right here with Jake Oettinger confidently playing a Seattle dump-in to space and beating a forechecker.

Lindell, who ices the puck more than you’d typically like, does have a decent high-flip in his arsenal. When focusing on it, he’s good at landing the puck near the opposing blue line, it depends more on the the coaching staff on how often it gets used.