Casey DeSmith made 35 saves to help the visiting Dallas Stars win their sixth game in a row, a 3-1 decision against the Seattle Kraken on Monday night.
DeSmith, the No. 2 goalie for Dallas behind Jake Oettinger, stretched his point streak to nine games (8-0-1).
Matt Duchene, Wyatt Johnston and Mikael Granlund scored for the Stars (49-21-4, 102 points), who moved within four points of the first-place Jets in the Central Division with eight games remaining for both. Winnipeg will play at Dallas on April 10.
The Stars’ Esa Lindell and Mason Marchment recorded two assists apiece.
Kaapo Kakko scored and Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves for the Kraken (31-38-6, 68 points), who have lost five of six (1-4-1).
The teams combined for three goals in the first 3:19 and didn’t score again until Granlund’s empty-netter with 1:07 remaining.
Kakko gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead at 1:02.
Adam Larsson brought the puck behind the net and out the other side before dropping a pass for Jaden Schwartz. After taking the puck back behind the net and coming out the opposite side, Schwartz centered a pass to Kakko for a one-timer from the slot.
The Stars tied it 1-1 at 2:34.
Seattle forward Jared McCann briefly went down after blocking a shot by Mathew Dumba, who quickly retrieved the puck and fed Marchment at the top of the right circle. Marchment’s one-timer was deflected into the net by Duchene for his 29th goal of the season.
Duchene, 34, has 75 points in 74 games this season.
Johnston scored his 30th goal of the season 45 seconds later to give Dallas a 2-1 lead.
Dallas’ Esa Lindell sent a stretch pass from his own zone and into the neutral zone, where it bounced past Seattle defenseman Vince Dunn at his own blue line, allowing Johnston to rush past him and score from the right circle.
The Kraken went 0-for-3 on the power play, including a five-on-three for nine seconds that they couldn’t capitalize on late in the second period. The Stars also were unsuccessful on three attempts with the man advantage.
Dallas also won at Seattle on Saturday, 5-1.
–Field Level Media
