“Seattle Kraken Take Game 1 in Second-Round Series Against Dallas Stars, Joe Pavelski Scores Hat-Trick”

The Florida Panthers take the momentum from the Boston series and start the second round with an away win at the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Four goals from Joe Pavelski, who was making a comeback after recovering from concussion, was not enough for the Dallas Stars to win on home soil in the first game of their second-round series against the Seattle Kraken. The nearly 39-year-old American is the second-oldest player to ever score a hat-trick in the playoffs.

Pavelski gave his team the lead after a good two and a half minutes. Exactly nine minutes later it got strange: In a wild exchange of blows with five goals on both sides in less than four minutes, the Kraken pulled away to 4: 2, including a double strike by the guests from Washington State by Justin Schultz and Oliver Björkstrand only eleven seconds.

After that, the game calmed down a bit – the next goals didn’t come until the final third. Joe Pavelski only stole a rebound from Seattle goalie Philipp Grubaue, then took a flutter pass out of the air and somehow maneuvered it past Grubauer into the Kraken goal.

So the extension had to decide. The hosts initially had the best chance when Jamie Benn failed with a solo effort by Philipp Grubauer. Then came Yanni Gourde’s big moment: the Kraken’s Franco-Canadian, who won two Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning, decided the game as one should in overtime in a playoff game. In the crowd in front of the Stars’ goal, he simply fired from the turn and found his way into the goal with his shot to make it 5-4 and give the guests a 1-0 lead in the series.

Philipp Grubauer’s statistics were not outstanding with 31 saves (88.6 percent catch rate), but he was there in the really important moments, such as in extra time.

It continues in two days, then again in Dallas.

There was also an away win in the second round of the Eastern Conference: The Florida Panthers won the series opener 4-2 at the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Florida Panthers’ man of the night was Matt Tkachuk, who taxed three assists. And again it was Brandon Montour who scored a very important goal. After the late equalizer in Game 7 against the Boston Bruins, he now put the lid on this game with his goal to make it 4-2.