Behind G Casey DeSmith, Stars win 1st period, take game against Kraken

Goaltender Casey DeSmith made 30 saves as the Dallas Stars edged the visiting Seattle Kraken 2-1 on Sunday night.

Wyatt Johnston and Tyler Seguin scored first-period goals and Miro Heiskanen had two assists for the Stars, who won their second in a row after a 5-4 victory Saturday in Nashville.

Jaden Schwartz scored for Seattle, which completed a two-game trip that included a 4-3 overtime victory Saturday in St. Louis. Goalie Matt Murray, making just his second start of the season for the injured Joey Daccord (upper body), stopped 22 of 24 shots.

The Kraken opened the scoring at 3:15 of the first period. Seattel's Matty Beniers won a faceoff in the offensive zone and defensemen Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson worked the puck from point to point before Schwartz set up in the slot and redirected Larsson's shot past DeSmith.

The Stars tied it with the man advantage at 4:24. Heiskanen got the puck at the left point and slid a short pass to Jason Robertson at the top of the faceoff circle. Robertson spun and passed to a wide-open Johnston at the top of the crease, and he had time to pull the puck to his forehand and stuff a shot under a sprawling Murray.

The Stars took the lead at 19:26 of the first. A stick battle caused the puck to soar into the air and it landed just in front of Seattle defenseman Adam Lindgren in the high slot and bounced past him, allowing Seguin to skate by on a mini-breakaway. Seguin went to his backhand and slid the puck between Murray's skate and the left post.

The Kraken dropped to 0-14 in the second half of back-to-back games on consecutive nights since the start of the 2024-25 campaign. They are 0-2 in those situations this season.

Dallas outshot Seattle 10-7 in the first period but the Kraken had the edge in the scoreless second (15-7) and third (9-7) periods.

--Field Level Media