Colorado scores 4 straight in 3rd to stay alive; Rantanen has 4 points for Dallas
Stars at Avalanche | Recap | Round 1, Game 6
DENVER — Valeri Nichushkin scored two goals, and the Colorado Avalanche avoided elimination with a 7-4 win against the Dallas Stars in Game 6 of the Western Conference First Round at Ball Arena on Thursday.
Game 7 is in Dallas on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS).
Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon each had a goal and two assists, and Martin Necas had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who are the No. 3 seed from the Central Division. Gabriel Landeskog and Brock Nelson each had two assists, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 22 saves.
“We competed to win tonight. That’s what we did. Very similar to Game 4 in our building, both of them must-wins for me, and our team responded,” said Colorado coach Jared Bednar. “Hopefully we do it one more time.
“We have belief, and we’re not going to give up on that. We got to go play another game to the best of our ability and give it everything we got against another team that’s going to try and do the exact same thing.”
DAL@COL, Gm6: Nichushkin opens the scoring with a shot from the circle
Roope Hintz had two goals and two assists, and Mikko Rantanen had a goal and three assists for the Stars, who are the No. 2 seed from the Central. Jake Oettinger made 41 saves.
“If you’re going to go into a game and two goals are going to go in off your own players, it’s going to be tough to win that night,” said Dallas coach Pete DeBoer. “I give our guys credit. Despite the fact that we had those bounces against us, … we still battled right to the end. I’m proud of the group for that. Now we’ve got a great opportunity. Home for Game. 7.
“We’ve been in this situation before. No one gave us a chance to win this series, and here we are with one game at home to advance. So that’s a great situation to be in.”
Nichushkin tied it 4-4 at 6:02 of the third period when he corralled the rebound of Landeskog’s initial shot with his leg and clubbed it past Oettinger.
“I’ll have a conversation with him tomorrow and figure out how we get him to do that again in Dallas, because he’s been exceptional in the home games and frustrated in the road games,” Bednar said. “So our whole team kind of has to think about what’s made them successful here, especially in the last couple games, and how do we carry that over to the road.”
MacKinnon was credited with a goal to make it 5-4 when Sam Steel’s net-clearing attempt hit teammate Colin Blackwell and caromed into his own net at 9:04. MacKinnon, who had a backhand shot at the net, was the last Avalanche player to touch the puck.
“It was fluky, obviously. A freak goal, but I thought we could have had a lot more than that. So deserved a bounce,” MacKinnon said. “I saw it all. I just [got] super lucky, and hopefully we get more of those Saturday.”
DAL@COL, Gm6: MacKinnon sends the puck to the front and see a clearing attempt get knocked in
Josh Manson scored an empty-net goal off a face-off at his own blue line at 18:44, and Makar scored another off a face-off at his own right circle at 19:03 for the 7-4 final.
“I’m not known for my face-offs, but I’m happy I could win a couple,” said MacKinnon. “Me and ‘Manse’ kind of talked about it, and we decided if I win it pretty clean, he should just go for it. We’ll risk it. If it goes in, it’s over, and thankfully he just nailed it. So it was awesome.”
Nichushkin scored to make it 1-0 Colorado when his wrist shot from the right circle deflected off the skate of defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin at 6:29 of the first period.
“He showed up big time today, and it was huge,” Necas said. “He had the huge goal in third. In the first, he got us going. I think we’ll see more in Game 7.”
Artturi Lehkonen made it 2-0 at 18:40 after he redirected Makar’s whiffed shot from inside the blue line behind Oettinger.
Hintz scored a power-play goal to make it 2-1 at 1:18 of the second period. Rantanen fed him a backhand pass in the slot and Hintz put it into Blackwood’s five-hole.
“That was a good period, but, obviously, we didn’t get the win. That’s what matters in the end,” said Hintz. “We just got to have a short memory now and take all the good things, and then work on what we didn’t do well, and then take the Game 7 at home.”
Mikael Granlund tied it 2-2 with a wrist shot over the glove of Blackwood at 3:41. Hintz fed him with a blue line to blue line pass for the breakaway.
Necas regained the lead for Colorado at 3-2 when he tapped in Makar’s crossing pass at the right post over the leg at 4:34.
“I just had my stick on the ice and I tapped it in,” Necas said.
Said Makar: “I saw ‘Marty’ driving back door. It was kind of a bouncing puck, so I just decided to throw it there, and Marty got a good stick on it.”
Hintz tied it 3-3 at 7:51 when his snap shot from the right circle went far side over the blocker while on the rush.
Rantanen gave Dallas a 4-3 lead with a quick wrist shot from between the hashes that went five-hole at 18:35.
“We were executing off the rush. A couple good plays by everybody on the line, finishing when we get a scoring chance,” he said. “Those periods obviously happen pretty rarely but try to do it as often as we can. I think it was execution. Everybody wanted the puck, and we were just passing it around pretty well.”
Rantanen, who was traded from the Avalanche to the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 24 then acquired by the Stars on March 7, has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past two games.
“He was awesome. It was great. Started earlier in the series, but I think every game, he’s more comfortable,” DeBoer said. “I thought that line was fantastic tonight. They’ve got to do that again in Game 7.”
Said Oettinger: “We knew what we were getting [in Rantanen]. We played him a ton. So just one of the best players in the world. The fact that he’s in green and white now is great and expect nothing less from him. He’s a [heck] of a player. I’m just happy he’s wearing our logo now.”
NOTES: Rantanen and Hintz became the first pair of teammates in NHL history to each record four points in a playoff period. … Rantanen and Hintz tied the NHL record for points in a playoff period. Only three other active players have hit the mark: Leon Draisaitl (Game 3 of 2022 second round), Kevin Labanc (Game 7 of 2019 first round) and Tyler Seguin (Game 2 of 2011 Western final). … MacKinnon factored on his seventh career third-period go-ahead goal in the playoffs and tied Claude Lemieux for third most in Avalanche/Nordiques history behind Joe Sakic (11) and Peter Forsberg (8).
🔹Ottawa Senators vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
🔹Florida Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
🔹Montreal Canadiens vs. Washington Capitals
🔹New Jersey Devils vs. Carolina Hurricanes
🔹St. Louis Blues vs. Winnipeg Jets
🔹Colorado Avalanche vs. Dallas Stars
🔹Minnesota Wild vs. Vegas Golden Knights
🔹Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings
