Kiviranta’s OT goal lifts Stars by Avs

Joel Kiviranta completed a hat track 7 minutes, 24 seconds into overtime to give the Stars a 5-4 victory over the Avalanche on Friday in Game 7, sending the Stars to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2008.

Kiviranta moved away from the crease just before his quick shot on a pass from Andrej Sekera from behind the net. Kiviranta was playing only his third postseason game, on the ice for the series finale with Andrew Cogliano unfit to play, after the 24-year-old forward scored once in 11 regular-season games.

“Pretty unreal. This is what you dream about when you’re a young kid,” Kiviranta said. “I played the first Game 7 of my life. I didn’t know what to expect. Maybe their D just lost me a little bit. They didn’t know who was picking me up.

“I tried to find a soft spot. It was a great pass.”

It was only the seventh Game 7 hat trick in NHL history, and the first since Wayne Gretzky for the Kings in the 1993 conference finals.

The Stars will play Sunday night against the Canucks or Knights, who had a Game 7 of their own Friday night at Rogers Place. There had never been an NHL Game 7 played at a neutral site before the two games.

The Avalanche, who also lost in Game 7 of last season’s conference semis, were trying to get to their first conference final since 2002, and forced Game 7 after being down 3-1. Third-string goalie Michael Hutchinson, a 30-year-old journeyman who had never started a playoff game before winning consecutive elimination games, but couldn’t make one more save after 31 Friday.

Canucks push to a Game 7: Thatcher Demko stopped 48 shots, Quinn Hughes set an NHL record with a goal and an assist, and the Canucks staved off elimination for the second straight game with a 4-0 win over the Golden Knights on Thursday night. J.T. Miller and Jake Virtanen had goals, and Bo Horvat added an empty-net goal with 41⁄ minutes left.