The Dallas Stars have secured the last playoff spot in the North American professional ice hockey league NHL despite a defeat.
The Stars lost to the Arizona Coyotes, bottom of the Western Conference, 3-4 (2-0, 1-0, 0-3) after extra time, but one point for the tie after regular time was enough for the Stars for the last wildcard ticket for the playoffs.
As a result, it was irrelevant that pursuers Vegas Golden Knights also lost 4-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday – after seven rounds of penalty shootouts. The Golden Knights, founded in 2016, missed the playoffs for the first time in their fifth NHL season.
The Seattle Kraken around German international goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer were far from that in their debut season. Seattle lost 3-5 to the Los Angeles Kings. Grubauer parried 23 shots on goal. The Kings, with former national coach Marco Sturm as assistant coach, meet the Edmonton Oilers with German star player Leon Draisaitl in the first playoff round