How did Dallas Stars overcome Seattle Kraken in Game 7? Analysing key reasons for their win

The Dallas Stars entered Game 7 with a chance to defeat the Seattle Kraken and advance to the Western Conference Final for the second time in the last four seasons.

With everything on the line, the Stars performed a masterpiece in front of the home crowd at the American Airlines Center.

Dallas did everything right on Monday. They gave us a glimpse into what they call the "Dallas Stars hockey" that made them so hard to play against during the regular season.

2 Areas of Dallas Stars Masterful Performance in Game 7

Two-way hockey

One of the most popular cliches in hockey, yet, one of the most important. The Stars played near-perfect two-way hockey against Seattle in Game 7.

When the Kraken controlled the puck, Dallas was all over them. They used their forecheck to clog up each zone of the ice and force Seattle to either turn back or dump the puck in and turn their possession into a 50/50 battle.

In the defensive zone, Seattle could not create much. Even during a few elongated shifts in which Dallas was stuck in their own end, they maintained their positioning, tied up sticks around Jake Oettinger, and forced Seattle to circle and circle until eventually growing frustrated and wasting a shot from distance.

It made the game fairly easy for Oettinger, who had struggled in the series, and it gave Dallas the opportunity to seize all of the momentum while the Kraken lost confidence.

Depth production

Dallas has received contributions from up and down the lineup this postseason. In Game 7, often it is an unsung hero that rises in the late stages (think Joel Kiviranta in 2020). But this time around, the Stars counted on their top player, Roope Hintz, to kick things off.

After an onslaught from Dallas through the first 35 minutes of the game, Hintz found a loose puck at the Kraken blue line that had eluded former Stars defenseman, Jamie Oleksiak. Hintz stole the puck and flew down the right wing before snapping a wrister past the blocker side of Philip Grubauer.

And the Arena went berserk...

Grubauer had been holding off the Stars attack, robbing multiple chances with his glove just before the goal.

But in the end, the game-winning goal went to 20-year-old, Wyatt Johnston.

Johnston, on his 20th birthday, found a loose puck to the left of Grubauer off an excellent billiards play from Evgenii Dadonov. Johnston collected, and despite not having much of an angle to shoot at, lifted a backhand off the side of Grubauer's mask and into the near corner to give Dallas a 2-0 lead.

Ice in the veins of the recent teenager, who became the youngest player to score the game-winning goal in a Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Johnston also scored the game-winner in Game 6 to defeat the Minnesota Wild in the first round.

If we witness more "Dallas Stars hockey" in the Western Conference Final and beyond, it very well could be these same Dallas Stars lifting the Stanley Cup over their heads in mid-June.