While the Kraken hope to go up 2-0 in their series against Dallas on Thursday night, Stars head coach Pete DeBoer hopes recent history repeats itself. After losing Game-1 of their opening round series against the Minnesota Wild in double-overtime, the Stars bounced back with a convincing 7-3 win in Game-2 at the American Airlines Center.
“I loved our response in Game-2 even though we had the (Joe) Pavelski injury in the first round,” DeBoer said Thursday morning. “I expect the same tonight. It didn’t feel the same (in the 5-4 loss to Seattle), but we’re looking for the same response. We know we can play better than we did in Game-1 and we’re gonna have to.”
Hard work and winning puck battles; that was one of the simple keys working in favor of the Kraken, especially through the first two periods of the hockey game.
“You can’t take periods off, shifts off,” Stars veteran defenseman Ryan Suter said after the morning skate. “It ends up costing you this time, at any point of the season, but especially in the playoffs, it’s magnified. I think for us we’ve got to get back to playing the way we’re capable of playing. They’re a good team, we have to continue to get better, continue to make adjustments and things like that, but what I learned from last series is you have to be engaged from the start.”
One young Stars forward exuded confidence the morning of Game-2, not quite to the point of guaranteeing a Dallas victory, but pretty close.
“This happened last series, we know how to handle it coming into tonight, put in a good effort and take this one,” forward Ty Dellandrea (pictured) said Thursday. “We’re gonna rally and get up for this game and this one’s a big one, yeah, we’re gonna take this one tonight.”
Dellandrea, a 22-year-old righty from Ontario, had one game of Stanley Cup playoff experience heading into this postseason.
Kraken Foes
Here’s the likely line-up for the Dallas Stars that will face the Kraken in Game-2 on Thursday night:
Jason Robertson — Roope Hintz — Tyler Seguin
Mason Marchment — Max Domi — Joe Pavelski
Jamie Benn — Wyatt Johnston — Evgeny Dadonov
Radek Faksa — Luke Glendening — Ty Dellandrea
Ryan Suter — Miro Heiskanen
Esa Lindell — Jani Hakanpää
Thomas Harley — Colin Miller
Jake Oettinger in net
Kraken Resources
Recent Seattle playoff stories – worth taking a peak.
— For the Kraken, the name of the game is “Grooby”
— “Big Rig” Oleksiak is a force with some dangle
