What to watch for in the Kraken’s playoff series vs. the Stars — plus Geoff Baker’s prediction

Kraken forward Yanni Gourde has been all the way through the Stanley Cup playoffs marathon twice before and knows better than to get too emotional just one round in.

But there were times after his team’s stunning Game 7 triumph over the Colorado Avalanche in Denver on Sunday when even Gourde seemed too caught up in the moment to look ahead at what’s next. And that next opponent is coming at the Kraken fast, as they take on the Stars in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal Tuesday night at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

“I just wanted to focus on tonight, honestly,” Gourde said, his voice seeming to choke at times, when asked about facing the Stars.

Of the Avalanche series upset – a physically and mentally draining seven-game slugfest for players and fans alike with enough drama for Kraken minority owner Jerry Bruckheimer to turn into one of his Hollywood movies – Gourde added: “It’s a great feeling. I’m so proud of this group. We battled so hard. Especially as a team in our second year in this league. Just making the playoffs was an accomplishment. We battled so hard all year long.”

Bruckheimer wasn’t among owners high-fiving players, coaches and general manager Ron Francis outside the visitors’ locker room at Ball Arena following Game 7. But Samantha Holloway – team majority co-owner and daughter of co-owner David Bonderman – was there, as was Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Space Needle patriarch family representative David Wright, corporate-branding mogul Jay Deutsch, CEO Tod Leiweke and team president Victor de Bonis.

The presence of so many Kraken owners and bigwigs highlighted just how much the victory means to a franchise seeking a toehold in a crowded Seattle sports market. The Colorado series and the Dallas showdown might have finally done what two seasons of marketing efforts had long dreamed of accomplishing with, at-times, limited results.

“There’s been a lot of changes with our group,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said Monday after his team’s arrival in Dallas. “A lot of the core group is still remaining, however. And that group has remained pretty resilient through Year 1 and all the way through this year. That resiliency is a big factor as you get into playoff time and into some of the heated games you run into this time of year.”

For Gourde, who won consecutive Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and 2021, getting back among the NHL’s final eight playoff teams this quickly likely seemed far-fetched last May 1, when the Kraken wrapped up a dismal 60-point season with a rescheduled road finale against Winnipeg.

Exactly one year later they landed in Dallas having vanquished the defending Cup champion Avalanche in an upset few predicted.

“I hoped we were going to be in the playoffs,” Gourde said. “That’s the objective every time you start a season. You want to be in the playoffs. But getting this look at the defending Stanley Cup champions, I mean, it was a privilege to play against them. And, honestly, they have a great team out there. And they played really well.”

Gourde’s first championship with Tampa Bay came against the Stars in a six-game final played at a neutral COVID-19 “bubble” site. That Dallas finalist included current Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, a rock throughout the Colorado series.

“We know Dallas, they’re waiting for us,” Gourde said. “They have a great group, four lines, six great defensemen. I mean, it’s not going to be an easy task.”

Gourde was accurate with the latter two assessments, though he might have overstated the four forward lines a bit. Dallas was led all season by the top-scoring trio of Jason Robertson, Joe Pavelski and Roope Hintz, though – similar to the top-heavy Avalanche – there was a drop-off from the top-six forwards on down.

Dallas acquired forwards Evgenii Dadonov and Max Domi at the trade deadline and balanced that more. The Kraken had 15 players score in the Colorado series, and the newer-look Stars had a still-impressive 10 players tally goals in a six-game, opening-round win over Minnesota.

The contributions beyond the top line were huge given 38-year-old Pavelski was knocked out of the series opener because of a concussion and hasn’t played since. He’s resumed practicing and could be available for Game 1, unlike Kraken 40-goal-scorer Jared McCann, who has a concussion of his own and did not accompany the Kraken on the road in anticipation of continuing on to Dallas.

Dadonov has three of his team’s goals, and Domi has another. Hintz has a team-leading five for Dallas, Robertson had a pair, and Tyler Seguin – moved up to top-line duties in Pavelski’s absence – has three.

Still, get beyond the top-six Dallas forwards, and the rest is up in the air.

Not so on a defense led by the top pairing of Miro Heiskanen and Ryan Suter. The Kraken should face a tougher task getting inside the Dallas blue liners to the net front than against the Avalanche.

Once there, they’ll need to beat standout netminder Jake Oettinger, who stonewalled Minnesota with a .929 save percentage. That’s nearly identical to Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer’s .926 save percentage.

“They’re a really good team, and in the playoffs the cards get mixed newly,” said Grubauer, whose 231 shots faced were the most of any opening-round goalie. “They’re fresh, and we got a couple days of rest, so we’ve got to make sure we prepare ourselves really well.”

The Kraken and Stars faced each other three times in a short March span. Dallas won twice at Climate Pledge Arena, though the Kraken blew a late lead in the first game and lost in overtime.

It was the Kraken prevailing in overtime in the road game, dominating Dallas throughout, only to blow a late two-goal lead that forced the extra session. This won’t be an easy series for a Kraken team needing to continue its relentless forechecking.

“You look from top to bottom, that top line of theirs is as good as any in the league all the way through their defensive corps and goaltending,” Hakstol said. “So there’s a big challenge there in front of us. We know their team pretty well, having played them three times down the stretch run.

“And we’ll obviously have to turn the page really quickly from the Colorado series with a travel day today,” he added. “We’ll take some key points that we want to make sure we’re focusing on. And then just go play our game. That’s the bottom line for us.”

Prediction: Kraken in six games.