Big second period lifts Stars
EDMONTON, Alberta — Alexander Radulov scored on a deflection off his chest as part of a four-goal second period and the Dallas Stars beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in the second-round series.
Trailing 2-0 in the second period, Joe Pavelski and Radek Faksa revitalized the Stars by scoring in a 43-second span during a 5-on-3 advantage.
Dallas was just getting started. Radulov knocked in the go-ahead goal when a shot bounced off a stick, into his chest and over Colorado goaltender Pavel Francouz. Esa Lindell then added another with 46 seconds remaining to make it 4-2.
The Avalanche pulled Francouz with around two minutes left in the game, but couldn’t score. Jamie Oleksiak added an emptynetter with 10 seconds left.
Anton Khudobin stopped 39 shots as the Stars won their fifth straight game. He came up big in the first by only allowing a goal from Nathan MacKinnon, despite Colorado outshooting Dallas, 20-6.
MacKinnon also had an assist on Mikko Rantanen’s second-period goal. MacKinnon has a point in all 10 postseason games for Colorado, tying Joe Sakic (1996) and Marian Stastny (1982) for the franchise’s longest points streak to begin a postseason.
Francouz made 22 saves in taking over for an injured Philipp Grubauer, who along with defenseman Erik Johnson remains out indefinitely.
The 30-year-old Francouz looked sharp until the second-period meltdown.
That’s when a listless
Stars team was ignited by a two-man advantage. Pavelski scored on a nifty crossice pass from Radulov. Then, Faksa knocked in another to tie the game.
Soon after, Colorado went on a 5-on-3 advantage, but the team couldn’t capitalize.
It was another big momentum swing.
Dallas went ahead on a wild play down low. Jamie
Benn sent in a shot near the goal that glanced off the stick of Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard, bounced off Radulov and into the net. Radulov also had two goals during the Stars’ 5-3 win in Game 1.
Just when it appeared the Avalanche might go into the intermission down a goal, they turned the puck over and it led to a score by Lindell.
ISLANDERS 4, FLYERS 0
Semyon Varlamov stopped 29 shots for his second straight shutout, Andy Greene scored his first playoff goal in a decade and New York opened the series with a win over Philadelphia in Toronto.
The Islanders withstood a second-period flurry in their first playoff meeting with the rival Flyers since 1987 and closed it out with three goals in the third.
Greene, 37, scored in the first, becoming the 10th player in NHL history to go at least 10 years between playoff goals.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Anders Lee each scored in the third period, and Devon Toews closed it out with an empty-net goal.
New York outshot Philadelphia 15-4 in the first period, but Carter made some spectacular saves to keep it 1-0.