Stars Give Avalanche Life, Lose 5-3 to Force Game 6

With a trip to the Western Conference Finals on the line, the Dallas Stars couldn't shut down Cale Makar and the Colorado Avalanche in a 5-3 loss, forcing a Game 6 back in Colorado Friday.

Among other things, the Avalanche finally held a lead for the first time in the series, and have now taken two of three games in Dallas. Colorado's offense woke up to the tune of five goals, and their superstars led the way with their season on the brink of being over. Cale Makar scored two goals and Nathan MacKinnon put the dagger in the Stars with under five minutes left in the third period.

Dallas led off the game with Joe Pavelski's first goal of the postseason, adding to his tally of the most postseason goals by any active player. Pavelski took a great one-touch pass from Matt Duchene and tipped it brilliantly past goaltender Alexander Georgiev, and the Stars struck first for the fifth straight game.

The Stars took a penalty with under two minutes left in the first period, and Arturri Lehkonen put a dagger into an otherwise perfect period by scoring with 0.6 seconds left before intermission to tie it up. That undoubtedly put some wind in Colorado's sails for the rest of the game, and gave them some momentum headed into the locker room.

Credit to Dallas, though, who pushed back with a power play goal of their own in the second period to retake the lead 2-1. A tape-to-tape pass from Pavelski allowed Jason Robertson to receive the pass and spin into the offensive zone in one motion, creating a 2-on-1 advantage down the slot. A pass across to an awaiting Miro Heiskanen gave Georgiev no chance, and it felt like the Stars had a lead that they could try and protect for less than half the remaining game to eliminate the Avalanche from the playoffs.

Another penalty from the Stars gave Colorado another chance on the power play, and Cale Makar tied the game up with a perfect wrist shot through traffic that found the corner of the net. Jake Oettinger had no chance on the play, with bodies layered in front of him and such a precise shot from Makar. Suddenly, with only one period left, there was all to play for.

The Avs came out in the third period with a fire lit under them, and Casey Middlestadt banked a shot off the post and off Oettinger to take the lead for the first time in the series just over a minute into the period. Just three minutes later, Cale Makar scored his second goal of the night on a change-up that fooled Oettinger and leaked through his pads to open up Colorado's advantage to 4-2. Dallas would answer back with a high tip from Logan Stankoven, but a failed power play with under 10 minutes to play and a MacKinnon goal right before it was time to pull Oettinger sealed a Game 6 back in Colorado.

It was clear that the Avalanche found the urgency to win the final 20 minutes with their season on the line, and even though Dallas obviously wanted to win, the Stars still had that two game lead in the series as a cushion for if things went wrong. It is tough to beat any team four times in a row, and especially a team as strong as the Avalanche.

Without Val Nichushkin and with a little more time to prepare for it, Avs coach Jared Bednar broke up the dynamic duo of MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, putting MacKinnon with Jonathan Drouin and Lehkonen, and dropping Rantanen down with Zach Parise and Middlestadt. MacKinnon led all forwards in ice time, and only Makar and Heiskanen played more in the game. Bednar relied on his top two lines even more with a first period injury to Yakov Trenin, leaving the fourth line down a man and scarcely seeing the ice.

Dallas dealt with an early injury scare when MacKinnon appeared to make contact with the head of Chris Tanev in the beginning stages of the first period, and Tanev immediately went down the tunnel. Luckily for Dallas, it was only due to a loose tooth that had to be pulled, and like the warrior of a hockey payer he is, Tanev was back on the bench in a matter of no time and played 20 minutes. Nils Lundkvist saw a few shifts while Tanev was absent, but didn't see the ice again in the game until after Colorado had put the game to bed with MacKinnon's late goal.

With the series shifting to Colorado, Dallas has two more chances to close out the series and advance to the Western Conference Finals. The Stars have won both games in Colorado, but the atmosphere is bound to be electric as Avs fans try to root their team on to tie the series. If the Stars can't close it out, Colorado would have most of the momentum coming back to Dallas for Game 7, so it feels important for the Stars to get the job done in six games. With Vancouver and Edmonton knotted at 2-2 in their series, it could also give the Stars some much needed days of rest after what would be two grueling series victories over Vegas and Colorado.

It is worth noting that every year that Dallas has beaten Colorado in a playoff series, it has been in seven games, and the Stars have gone on to the Stanley Cup Final each time (1999, 2000, 2020). The only series victories for Colorado have been four games to one, in the first rounds of 2004 and 2006.

The Stars will have to continue their road dominance from the regular and postseason to close out the series Friday, or face a second Game 7 in two series on Sunday.

Coverage for Game 6 is at 9 p.m. CDT and can be seen on TNT. If the Panthers-Bruins game prior runs into the Stars game, coverage will be on TruTV.