With their backs against the wall, the Colorado Avalanche saved their season with a clutch third-period comeback in a 7-4 victory against the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of their best-of-7 playoff series Thursday night. Dallas will now host a decisive seventh game Saturday.
Colorado scored four unanswered goals in the third period, taking the lead at 9:04 and adding two empty-netters late. Dallas had turned a 2-0 deficit into a 4-3 advantage, thanks to four second-period goals of their own, before returning the favor in the third period.
The Avalanche caught a break to open the scoring early in the first period. A wrist shot from Valeri Nichushkin deflected off Esa Lindell’s stick, then kicked off Ilya Lyubushkin’s skate past an unsuspecting Jake Oettinger at 6:29.
Colorado controlled the first period, outpacing Dallas with 19 shots on goal, and its final shot of the period found the back of the net. At 18:40, Artturi Lehkonen slapped an awkward rebound in, pushing the Avalanche’s lead to 2-0 before the first period ended.
Early in the second, Dallas got back into the game thanks to a key, momentum-shifting sequence. Oettinger made a stellar save on Cale Makar, then moments later, Colorado’s Brock Nelson went to the penalty box for tripping. The Stars converted on the power play; Roope Hintz scored his third goal of the series at 1:18.
Dallas tied it up not long after. Mikael Granlund got behind the Avalanche defense and received a pass from Hintz as he broke into the Colorado zone, beating Mackenzie Blackwood at 3:41.
The newly tied score seemingly woke Colorado up. The Avalanche quickly set up shop in the Stars zone, and Martin Necas deposited a backdoor pass from Makar for his first goal of the playoffs, only 53 seconds after Dallas had tied it up.
Hintz continued the high-scoring period with his second goal of the game, his third point of the period, at 7:51 to tie it up 3-3. Dallas took its first lead of the game before the barn burner of a period came to an end.
Hintz picked up another assist, this time possessing the puck on the forecheck and feeding Mikko Rantanen, who burned his former team, beating Blackwood five-hole. Both Rantanen and Hintz tallied a point on all four of Dallas’ second-period goals.
Nichushkin evened the score at 6:02 of the third with his second goal of the night; he corralled a rebound with his leg, then kicked the puck to his skate before he sent it past Oettinger for a highlight reel goal.
Colorado took the lead for good on another unorthodox goal at 9:04, this one the craziest of the night. Nathan MacKinnon flipped the puck on net, and Stars forward Sam Steel tried to swat it out of danger. Instead he fired the puck off teammate Colin Blackwell’s shoulder and into the net.
The Avalanche held on from there, preventing Dallas from tying it back up. The Stars had a few good looks with their net empty, but Josh Manson and Makar each scored into the empty net to put the game away, forcing Game 7 this weekend.
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3 takeaways from Avalanche comeback win in Game 6 against Stars, setting up decisive seventh contest
1. Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz make history in second period
Heading into the second period, Colorado had Dallas on the ropes; two first-period goals from the home team had Ball Arena buzzing. Colorado peppered Oettinger with 19 shots in the first period and controlled the pace of play.
However, second-period heroics from Rantanen and Hintz put Dallas out front 4-3 at the end of 40 minutes. Each had a hand in all four goals; Hintz had two goals and two assists, and Rantanen scored one goal and ha\d three helpers.
Rantanen and Hintz tied the Stanley Cup Playoff record for points in a single period with four apiece. There are 23 players in NHL history who accomplished this feat. Hockey Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux is the only player to do this twice in his postseason career, and he and Tim Kerr are the only players to score four goals in a single period of a Stanley Cup Playoff game.
The Stars now have five players on that list. Dave Gagner, with the Minnesota North Stars before they moved to Dallas, did so on April 8, 1991. Since relocating to Dallas, Brad Richards (April 27, 2008) and Denis Gurianov (August 20, 2020) had four points in a postseason period, before Rantanen and Hintz.
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2. Lucky Colorado bounces burn Jake Oettinger
The scoreboard does not tell the full story of Game 6. The Avalanche finished with seven goals, so it’s easy to blame the losing team’s goaltender, in this case Oettinger.
However, Oettinger did his job in net, but simply was unlucky at unfortunate times. Oettinger faced 46 shots on goal and made 41 saves, and the majority of the goals he allowed should not be classified as his fault. Colorado had the “puck luck” on its side. Nichushkin’s first goal bounced off two Stars skaters; Necas scored on a perfect pass from Makar; and MacKinnon’s game-winning goal was an own goal by the Stars.
The Avalanche had plenty of luck but deserve credit for sticking with it, especially after a tough second period. They kept the puck in Dallas’ zone for most of the game, totaling 48 shots compared to 26 for the Stars. The Avalanche kept the pressure on the Stars the whole night – the puck was bound to bounce their way.
3. Stars shine for Avalanche
With their season on the line, Colorado’s stars came through to extend the series. MacKinnon, Makar, Nichushkin, Necas, Gabriel Landeskog and Nelson each tallied multiple points on the night; MacKinnon and Makar each scored a goal and had two assists, while Nichushkin led Colorado with two goals.
Necas finally scored his first playoff goal with the Avalanche in the second period, taking some pressure off him. With the way Rantanen, his original trade counterpart, has played in the past two games, Colorado was waiting for Necas to break out. He had three assists in the series thus far, then added another in the first period.
Finally, he got his first goal of the series on a beautiful passing play by Colorado in the second period.
Colorado got its big-name players rolling on Thursday night. Now they need to do it again in Game 7 to extend their season at least another series.
