Joe Pavelski came close to another hat trick, but the 37-year-old center achieved a career milestone by recording his first-ever five-point game in the NHL as the Dallas Stars defeated the Seattle Kraken 5-2 on Wednesday night.
Pavelski contributed two goals and three assists, including an assist on a 179-foot empty-net goal with 1:42 left in the game. His performance helped the Stars secure their first win against the expansion Kraken.
“It’s nice to get a five-point game finally, but the win was definitely more important,” Pavelski said.
Roope Hintz, Pavelski’s linemate, added a goal and two assists. “Everyone knows how great of a player he is,” Hintz said. “He was all over the net tonight. He deserved this.”
Jason Robertson, the third member of their line, extended his NHL-best home point streak to 11 games with a goal and an assist.
The Stars struck quickly, with Pavelski setting up Robertson for a shot that deflected off Hintz’s skate and into the net just 54 seconds into the game, giving Hintz his 14th goal of the season.
Hintz later assisted on Robertson’s power-play goal, which put the Stars ahead 3-1 late in the first period. Robertson displayed some slick stickhandling before scoring with a backhander past Seattle’s goalie Philipp Grubauer.
Pavelski scored his 15th goal of the season with two net-front efforts, both in crucial game moments. His first goal came midway through the first period when Miro Heiskanen’s shot ricocheted off the boards, and Pavelski tapped it in from close range.
“As it happened, I was just reading the play, hoping the puck would come off the wall like it did,” Pavelski said. “That was a nice one to get and get things going.”
The Stars extended their lead late in the second period when Pavelski scored again, just moments after Dallas killed off a penalty. Esa Lindell set him up right outside the crease.
“He can find loose pucks, get into open spaces, and anticipate where the play is going,” said Stars coach Rick Bowness. “He’s got a natural scoring touch that you just can’t teach.”
Pavelski and Hintz also assisted on Jani Hakanpaa’s empty-net goal, but Pavelski missed out on a hat trick with one last-shot attempt.
For the Kraken, Jared McCann scored his team-leading 15th goal and assisted on Calle Jarnkrok’s power-play goal, which tied the game at 1-1 in the first period. However, Pavelski’s tiebreaker shortly after put Dallas ahead for good.
“Obviously, we’ve talked a lot about taking the positives away from games, but enough is enough. Everyone’s getting pretty frustrated,” McCann said.
“I have no issues with our effort in the second and third periods. But we didn’t match their intensity first,” said Kraken coach Dave Hakstol. “They won the first period, and that set the tone.”
Dallas has now won five consecutive home games and 13 of their last 14 at the American Airlines Center. Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger made 23 saves, while Grubauer stopped 20 of 24 shots for Seattle.
Seattle defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, who was selected from the Stars in the expansion draft, received a warm ovation during a tribute video played in his honor. Oleksiak spent nine seasons in Dallas and played 286 regular-season games for the Stars.
Game Notes
Robertson has six goals and 11 assists during his home-point streak. Including road games, he has points in eight consecutive games, with five goals and seven assists. … Dallas goalie Braden Holtby and forwards Denis Gurianov and Alexander Radulov entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol this week. … Stars center Tanner Kero returned to the lineup after recovering from a concussion suffered on December 18 against Chicago. … The Vegas Golden Knights, the NHL’s previous expansion team, played their first-ever game in Dallas, defeating the Stars 2-1 on October 6, 2017.
UP NEXT
- Kraken: Visit St. Louis on Thursday night.
- Stars: Head to Florida on Friday night to begin a stretch of six out of seven games on the road.
