Commentary: Stars had the edge over Kraken from the start of Game 4

SEATTLE – The Seattle Kraken rediscovered a vital sporting truism Tuesday: You can’t replicate desperation. And most of the time, especially in the playoffs, desperation trumps all.

Following Seattle’s decisive victory Sunday that – seemingly – put them in control of their second-round series in the Stanley Cup playoffs, Kraken coach Dave Hakstol declared that his team needed to play with the same edge in Game 4.

“There’s no rule that says the team that’s down 2-1 has to be the hungrier team,” Hakstol said after Tuesday’s morning skate.

No rule, perhaps; just human nature. The Dallas Stars, for the first two periods, were demonstrably the edgier, hungrier and, yes, more desperate team Tuesday night, replicating Seattle’s onslaught of goals from two days earlier, only in reverse. So much so that, just as Dallas had done with its first-string goalie, Hakstol pulled Philipp Grubauer in favor of Martin Jones to start the third period.

Goodbye, Grubi Tuesday, and goodbye the fanciful notion of a smooth route to a series victory.

By the time the third period had ended, Dallas had grabbed a 6-3 victory at Climate Pledge Arena that evened the best-of-seven series at two games apiece. And all that blessed momentum that Seattle had attained with its 7-2 romp Sunday had dissipated, just like that.

“We didn’t get to our game until the third period,” said Jaden Schwartz, who had two of Seattle’s goals. “They had a higher desperation to start the game. They executed better. They were the more aggressive team, and we were on our heels, and weren’t able to get much going offensively.”

Oh, the Kraken made a couple of veiled attempts to force their way back into this game, by virtue of a pair of well-spaced Schwartz goals and one by Adam Larsson. But one of them came with Dallas ahead 4-0, and the other two belatedly in the third period with Seattle trailing 5-1. In other words, too little, too late, any hope of a miracle disappearing with an empty-net Stars goal at the end.

“In the third, we could have scored four or five goals,” Schwartz said. “We got to our game. We had good looks. We’ve just got to be ready from the get-go.”

Hakstol saw much the same thing, lamenting the Kraken’s power play in the first period that lasted just 1 minute before devolving into a 4-on-4 and eventual Dallas power play upon which the Stars scored.

“That was kind of indicative of our first period,” Hakstol said. “Instead of turning the game in our favor, whether you score or not on that power play, being able to continue to build some momentum and push the right direction, we’re sloppy on the power play … and that ends up being the first goal of the game.”

The game got out of hand in the second when Dallas scored four times, including one on which Seattle was certain that Grubauer had been interfered with, a judgment the officials didn’t share after review.

“The second period, we’re just late to everything,” Hakstol said. “I mean, we were a step behind in terms of getting there offensively, forecheck wise. And on the flip side, defensively, we were just late getting there.”

The Kraken certainly had their own motivation to draw upon Tuesday, knowing that another victory would put them in prime position to put away the Stars, perhaps in five games, and reach the Western Conference finals. What a coup that would have been – and still might be – for the second-year upstarts who caught everyone’s attention with their five-goal barrage in the second period of Game 3.

Instead, if anyone now has the inside track, it’s the Stars, who have two of the final three games at home, with the knowledge that they overcame a similar 2-1 deficit to Minnesota in the previous round to sweep the final three games.

What does Seattle have? For starters, it has the institutional memory of a season full of success on the road, and the recent recollection of three victories in Denver that proved decisive in their first-round triumph over the Avalanche. In a similar 2-2 series scenario heading on the road, they found a way to prevail against the defending Stanley Cup champs.

Best of all, they should be at least on even ground with Dallas on the desperation scale. They certainly don’t want to come back to Seattle facing elimination – especially with their tepid home-ice advantage, despite the presence of a raucous partisan crowd each night.

Battered on Sunday, the Stars bounced back to register the first score on Tuesday. The power-play goal by Jamie Benn with just 2:47 left in the first period silenced a Climate Pledge crowd ready to resume its festival of joyous ovations. The Kraken had two prime opportunities to get on the scoreboard, but Larsson and Schwartz both missed the net.

On Sunday, Seattle played with a verve that reflected the extra day’s rest it had for the first time in the postseason. On Tuesday, back on the familiar one-day-on, one-day-off schedule, there was little indication of fresher legs. The Kraken were outshot 25-19 (making up a huge deficit in the third), and after being exemplary in the penalty-kill department – seven out of eight successful – they allowed two power-play goals.

Still, Hakstol took solace in their modest surge in the third period, giving them something to aspire to in a series where momentum is fleeting.

“It doesn’t take a lot to pull momentum,” he said. “It’s hard to continue to drive that momentum – a shift, whether there’s an extra-effort play or a guy goes out and shows that his will is a little bit above his opponent’s … that has a way of building and shifting momentum. I thought Schwartzie had that (Tuesday night). We’re going to need a whole lot more of that, going into Game 5 and going into a three-game series.”

At this time of year, desperation plays. And pays.