Avalanche force Game 7
In another display of will, skill and resilience, Colorado posts win over Stars
For most hockey people, Game 7 are the two most exciting words in sports.
Unless you’re the Dallas Stars.
To them, Game 7 is the very last thing they want to hear, the very last place they ever thought they’d be.
They had the Colorado Avalanche down 3-1 in the series and down to their third-string netminder, with their captain out for the third period of Game 6 with a leg injury.
And they couldn’t close the deal.
In another stirring display of will, skill and resilience, the Avalanche set aside the odds one more time to post a convincing 4-1 victory on Wednesday at Rogers Place, forcing a deciding game Friday night.
It’s ironic that in a series dominated by goaltending drama and offensive fireworks, Game 6 was a low-scoring chess match until two third-period goals allowed Colorado to pull away for good, but with the stakes as high as they are, and both relief netminders at the top of their games, the noose tightened on everything.
The Avalanche forced a Game 7 despite running through goalies like they were red-shirted guys in a Star Trek episode.
Philipp Grubauer left Game 1 with an injury and Pavel Francouz was declared unfit to play after being yanked five goals and 26 shots into a Game 4 loss. That forced them to go with their No. 3 goalie in Michael Hutchinson, who, prior to his 34-save Game 4 victory, hadn’t started a game since February.
He was solid again in Game 6, making 27 saves in his second win.
“It’s a challenge, but it is what it is and we can’t control it, you can’t control injuries at this time of the year,” said Avs coach Jared Bednar, who never imagined he’d be digging three deep into his goaltending depth before the end of the second round. “Credit to (Hutchinson) and the work that he’s done to stay ready.”
The injury issues continued for Colorado in Game 6 when Gabriel Landeskog left the game late in the second period after teammate Cale Makar’s skate caught him above the right knee.
The Stars had their own issues, losing starter Ben Bishop in Game 2 of the firstround series with Calgary, leaving 34-year-old Anton Khudobin to carry the load. Bishop returned for a brief appearance in Game 5, and got lit up behind the lethargic Stars in Game 5. He wasn’t even on the bench for Game 6 (Jake Oettinger dressed as the Stars’ backup).
The Avalanche should have jumped in front after a double minor to Blake Comeau and a minor to Jamie Oleksiak midway through the first period, but the opportunities yielded nothing more than six minutes of unproductive zone time. Instead, it was the Stars who drew first blood when Hutchinson whiffed on a Miro Heiskanen wrist shot from the top of the circle with 2:25 left in the first. That could have been a deflating blow for Colorado, but the Avs came right back and squared it on an equalizer from Nikita Zadorov at 19:28.
Colorado’s power play continues to be a problem. After going 0-for-6 with the man advantage in Game 5, the Avs extended it to 0-for-11 by not capitalizing on two more Dallas minors in the second period.
Colorado did find the scoreboard five-on-five when Makar banked one in off Kudobin’s head at 7:28 to give the Avs a 2-1 lead at the second intermission. Mikko Rantanen gave Colorado some breathing room, scoring to make it 3-1 at 3:21 of the third period and after killing off the Stars’ first power play of the game, Nathan MacKinnon sealed it with an empty netter.
LATE HITS
Landeskog returned in the third period to test out his knee, but the shift lasted just a few seconds … Colorado also lost defenceman Conor Timmins after a second-period hit from Andrew Cogliano … The Stars’ offence jumped from 26th in the NHL during the regular season to fourth overall in the playoffs … The Stars won the first 10 faceoffs of the game, with five different players in on the damage … Nazem Kadri scored the game-winning goal in five of Colorado’s eight playoff wins … Makar is one point shy of the NHL record for points in a playoff year with 15. Glen Wesley holds the record, set in 1988. Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes is not far off the pace, either, with 14 points.