Defenseman Miro Heiskanen got a goal and two assists, while Jason Robertson had a goal and an assist as the Dallas Stars defeated the Seattle Kraken 3-1 on Saturday, securing the Central Division championship for the first time in eight years.
Craig Smith also scored for the Stars, who are still in the running for both the top seed in the Western Conference and the President’s Trophy with one game remaining in the regular season.
Heiskanen scored the last goal for Dallas with 7:37 left to play, his fourth game this season with at least three points.
“It’s nice to win the division, but we still have a lot more to do,” Heiskanen said. “This is just the beginning.”
Stars coach Pete DeBoer echoed the sentiment, saying, “You can’t overlook the effort it took to achieve that … in such a competitive division.”
Dallas scored their goals late in periods, with Smith’s goal coming with 2.5 seconds remaining in the first period and Robertson’s with 35.9 seconds left in the second, during a 5-on-3 power play.
Seattle hit the crossbar or post three times with shots. Kailer Yamamoto scored for Seattle late in the third period, ending Jake Oettinger’s chance for a shutout for the second time in two weeks. Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves for the Kraken, who started a season-ending four-game road trip.
“That goal at the end of the first period – a great tip, you can’t do much about that,” Yamamoto said. “It gave them a bit of momentum.”
The Stars won all three games against Seattle this season, including one in overtime, and also defeated them in seven games in the playoffs last year.
Just 22 seconds after Seattle’s Ryker Evans was penalized for hooking late in the second period, Brandon Tanev – the younger brother of Dallas’ Chris Tanev – was called for goaltender interference. Robertson’s goal, following his assist in the first period, brought his total points for the season to a team-leading 80.
In the second period, Oettinger lost his stick in the last seconds of Seattle’s second unsuccessful power play, then made a glove save on Evans’ shot from just inside the blue line.
