Stars clinch berth in Stanley Cup Playoffs with win against Kraken

SEATTLE — Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, and the Dallas Stars clinched a berth in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 5-1 win against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday.

“We work all year for [making the playoffs], so now we’re focused on winning the division,” said Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, who made 35 saves in the win.

Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz each had a goal and an assist, and Wyatt Johnston scored in his fourth straight game for the Stars (48-21-4), who pushed their winning streak to five games. Dallas sits four points behind the Winnipeg Jets for first in the Central Division with each team having nine games left.

“He's our backbone back there,” Mason Marchment said of Oettinger. “We all have so much confidence in him, and he’s not just our goalie, he’s a leader on our team. So when he's standing on his head and he's making those big saves, it really fires us up.”

Eeli Tolvanen scored for the Kraken (31-37-6), who have lost four of their past five and were eliminated from postseason contention when the St. Louis Blues defeated the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 earlier Saturday. Joey Daccord made 16 saves.

“This didn’t necessarily have the feel of a 5-1 game,” Seattle coach Dan Bylsma said. “The power play, for certain, and the penalty kill was kind of the story of the game, a little bit on discipline by us taking too many penalties. … We could have gotten more in the game, both on the power play and 5-on-5 play, and they stretched the lead out too big for [us to come back] against a good team.”

Tolvanen gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead at 1:27 of the first period. After Jared McCann skated past Dallas defenseman Thomas Harley and flipped a shot at Oettinger, Tolvanen found the bouncing rebound at the top of the crease and slapped it into an open net.

“I just saw him in front of the net and tried to go for the rebound,” Tolvanen said.

Robertson tied it 1-1 at 11:50 when he one-timed the rebound of Mavrik Bourque’s shot from below the left circle after he looped around the net.

Hintz gave Dallas a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 18:24, taking a saucer pass from Robertson in the right circle and one-timing it over Daccord’s right shoulder.

"It's uncharacteristic of our group to take a lot of penalties," Bylsma said. "[Special teams is] a huge part of the game. Against good power plays, the best way to keep them off the scoresheet is by not giving them an opportunity."

Marchment pushed it to 3-1 with a power-play goal 28 seconds into the third period, beating Daccord with a wrist shot from the right face-off dot off a cross-crease feed from Matt Duchene.

“I saw ‘Dutch’ coming out of the corner with it, so I just tried to back into some space,” Marchment said. “It kind of trickled through to me, and the goalie was kind of deep, so I just tried to get a low one on net.”

Johnston scored his 11th goal in his past 13 games to make it 4-1 at 12:56, racing past defenseman Adam Larsson to create a partial breakaway, deking to his left and lifting it over the right pad of Daccord.

“Wyatt Johnston, another big, big goal, making it look easy, so [there are] some good things happening,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said.

Rantanen added an empty-net goal for the 5-1 final at 16:26.

NOTES: The Stars joined the Jets and Washington Capitals as the third team to clinch a berth into the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. It will mark their 37th postseason appearance in franchise history. … Johnston’s four-game goal streak is the fourth such run of his career. He joins Steven Stamkos (nine), Alex Ovechkin (six), Patrik Laine (five) and Sidney Crosby (four) as the only active players with as many such streaks age 21 or younger.