Kraken explode for 5-goal 2nd period to take 2-1 series lead over Stars

Jordan Eberle sparked a five-goal outburst in the second period with his fourth goal of the playoffs, Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves and the Seattle Kraken beat the visiting Dallas Stars 7-2 on Sunday night to take a 2-1 series lead in their Western Conference semifinal.

That was just the start for Seattle. Alex Wennberg doubled the lead 1:26 after Eberle's goal; Carson Soucy became Seattle's 16th different goal scorer this postseason, beating Oettinger five-hole at 6:30; and Matty Beniers made it 4-0 at 8:22.

Seattle's first four shots of the period beat Oettinger, and the Kraken made it 5-1 when Eeli Tolvanen finished a rebound with 37 seconds left in the period.

It was the second time in three games of the series that Oettinger had surrendered five goals after Dallas lost the opener 5-4 in overtime. Oettinger gave up four goals in the first period of Game 1 and Seattle became the first team this postseason to score five times in a single period.

Twelve different Seattle players had a point.

Oettinger had 12 saves on 17 shots and was replaced for the third period by backup Scott Wedgewood. Wedgewood was greeted with a short-handed breakaway by Seattle and Yanni Gourde's third goal of the playoffs on the Kraken's first shot of the third period. Justin Schultz added a seventh for Seattle with 2:30 left on the power play.

Game 4 is Tuesday night.

Equally concerning for the Stars was Heiskanen, who was left bloodied on his left cheek by the puck to the face and did not return to the game. The original shot from Tye Kartye appeared to deflect off Ryan Suter's stick and Heiskanen was not prepared for the ricochet.

Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said the score played a role in the decision not to have Heiskanen return, but didn't provide clarity on whether he'd be available for Game 4.

Meanwhile, Grubauer was excellent again for Seattle. Mason Marchment pulled Dallas within three late in the second period finishing a one-timer from Evgenii Dadonov, but Grubauer was very good the rest of the period with breakaway saves on Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson, and a lunging save with his blocker on a deflected puck that looked to be going over his head and toward the net.

Jani Hakanpää scored his first of the playoffs with 13 minutes left.

The Stars cancelled a watch party that was planned during Sunday's game in the plaza outside their home arena. That is less than 30 miles from a Texas outlet mall where an assailant killed eight people on Saturday. The Stars said they cancelled the watch party outside the American Airlines Center out of respect for the victims, families and community of Allen.

Devils' offence comes to life in Game 3 win over Hurricanes

Jack Hughes scored two goals, set up two more and had a near fight as the New Jersey Devils began the task of digging out of another hole with an 8-4 win over the visiting Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Sunday.

The eight goals were the most for the Devils in a playoff game since they beat Washington 10-4 on April 22, 1988.

Michael McLeod capped a three-goal opening period with a short-handed goal and 19-year-old defenceman Luke Hughes — Jack's brother — made his playoff debut and picked up two assists. Dawson Mercer had three assists.

Carolina set an NHL record, scoring three short-handed goal in the game. Jordan Martinook scored on a penalty shot in the second period with the Canes down a man and Jordan Staal and Seth Jarvis scored 50 seconds apart on the same penalty kill in the third.

Sebastian Aho had other goal for the Hurricanes. Frederik Andersen, who allowed two goals on 48 shots in the first two games of the series, gave up four on 12 shots before being replaced by Pyotr Kochetkov early in the second period.

This was a totally different game than the first two in Raleigh, North Carolina, which the Canes won by a combined 11-2 score. They dominated from start to finish in both games, with their forecheck bottling up the Devils' up-tempo offence.

Meier opened the scoring at 5:58, stuffing a puck past Andersen from in close. Hughes scored from the right circle five minutes later after taking a pass from Brendan Smith and McLeod started the rout with his shorthanded goal in close at 12:31.

It was never close after that.