Upset Minded Seattle Kraken Look to Expand NHL Playoff Series Lead over Dallas Stars

The Seattle Kraken can take a 3-1 lead in their second round NHL playoff series when they host the Dallas Stars in Game 4 on Tuesday.

Faceoff is set for 9:30 p.m. ET at Climate Pledge Arena. The Stars are -137 moneyline favorites at BetOnline while the Kraken are +124. On the puckline, Dallas is -1.5/+185, Seattle is +1.5/-215. The total is 5.5/O -113.

Seattle Kraken (52-32-4-4, 2-1)

Matty Beniers, Alex Wennberg, Eeli Tolvanen and Justin Schultz each had a goal and an assist and Jordan Eberle also scored as the Kraken defeated the Stars 7-2 Sunday night in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series.

Five different players scored second-period goals for the Kraken, who took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Eberle’s goal started the second period onslaught:

Jordan Eberle scores the first goal for the @SeattleKraken two minutes into the second period against the Dallas Stars.
Eberle has now scored in three consecutive playoff games for the first time since he scored in four straight from April 10 to 16, 2019.#seakraken https://t.co/eidJgej4bq

— Sasha Terry (@sashaterry50) May 8, 2023

Eberle is on a roll, notching a goal in each of his last three games. He now has four goals and seven points in 10 playoff appearances this year.

Dallas Stars (52-23-13-3, 1-2)

Eberle’s goal came at the expense of Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen. He’s on all fours in front of the crease after getting hit in the face with the puck.

Jordan Eberle scores a pretty goal at the expense of Miro Heiskanen 😬 pic.twitter.com/RH9smd6dim

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) May 8, 2023

The former All-Star, who was averaging an NHL high of 29:45 of ice time in the playoffs, was hurt early in the second period and didn’t return. He’s been vital to the Stars success and has seven assists in the first eight playoff games

Stars coach Peter DeBoer said Heiskanen had a bad cut on his left cheek, but there was no damage around his eye and he is not going through concussion protocol.

Seattle is also dealing with injuries

There’s been no update on Kraken forward Jared McCann on Monday.

McCann, Seattle’s leading scorer with 40 goals in the regular season, hasn’t played since Game 4 of the opening round due to an undisclosed injury.

Let’s get physical

Seattle had 15 of the game’s first 17 hits in all. The Kraken constantly pushed up on and pressured Dallas. They forced Stars turnovers in their own end.

In Game 3, the hitting — more specifically, the forechecking by Seattle’s forwards was back. The Kraken often didn’t let the Stars out of their own end. Most experts agree that it was the most dominant of the 10 playoff games Seattle has played so far.