By Silvia-Leija Rosas, edited by Charles Hamaker

Dallas, TX - The Seattle Kraken will be riding high tonight against the Dallas Stars after an overtime win in Minnesota against the Wild last night, in the first contest of a back-to-back to begin the current three-game road trip. The game today has a puck drop time and will be available on KONG TV and Amazon Prime Video for those outside of the Seattle area but within the state of Washington.

The Kraken, fresh off a mixed start to the season with an opening home loss to the St. Louis Blues and last night’s shootout win over Minnesota, will look to build on their recent performance. Newly-minted captain Jordan Eberle is having a roaring start to the season with three points (2G-1A) in only three games–including his 300th career goal. Eberle has reached the 40-point mark in each of his three seasons with Seattle and his new captaincy powers seem to be working well for him. Philipp Grubaeuer will start tonight at American Airlines Center against Dallas’ Casey DeSmith, who will make his debut with the team after an offseason trade with the Vancouver Canucks. Grubauer had a mixed bag in terms of his first start to the season against the Blues, as the Kraken allowed three goals against with “The German Gentleman” in net but two of them coming on poor defensive breakdowns by Seattle and on goal that Grubauer wants back.

The Dallas Stars are coming off a solid preseason and a shutout against the New York Islanders last night, pushing their record to begin the season to 2-0-0. Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin both scored during the game, prompting thousands of tweets reminiscing the duo’s mid-2010s performance. 

Both teams are on tired legs so this game is going to come down to what the defense on both sides offers. The Kraken’s defense hasn’t been good in the first couple of games and with DeSmith likely in net tonight, the Stars will ramp up their own defense. Without star defenseman Vince Dunn for Seattle, dealing with an upper body injury, the Kraken will be starting Josh Mahura. Mahura was signed in the offseason from the Florida Panthers and is more of a depth defenseman than anything else, slotting alongside Will Borgen on Seattle’s third pairing.

What’s next?

Following tonight’s road contest against the Dallas Stars, our Seattle Kraken will have one more road game on the current trip before returning home to Climate Pledge Arena for a five-game homestand featuring games against (in order) the Philadelphia Flyers, Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Winnipeg Jets, and Carolina Hurricanes.

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