*Photo from Spectrum News*
Dallas wins series 4-2
The third of 4 series in round two is done. Jamie Benn tied the game, Matt Duchene won the game, and the Dallas Stars defeated the Colorado Avalanche with a 2-1 double overtime victory Friday night in Denver.
It took more than a full game to settle, but the Stars came out on top in this one, officially knocking out the Avalanche and securing their spot in the western conference finals. The Stars are making their second straight trip to the conference finals, hoping for a better result than last year.
Stars head coach Pete Deboer said of the win that "Our team comes in here and wins three road games against the best home team in the NHL. Just fantastic character to be able to do that against that team in this building. What a gauntlet. Colorado was a more rested team after their first round. I just couldn't be prouder of our group. I thought everybody dug deep, and our depth did carry us through."
Kicking off the scoring in this one was the Avalanche. Mikko Rantanen gave them a 1-0 lead 5:48 into the second period, scoring on the power play with assists from Jonathan Drouin and Cale Makar on his 4th goal of the playoffs. Jamie Benn scored 1:56 into the 3rd period, getting the Stars on the board and tying the game 1-1.
With the rest of the 3rd period scoreless, it was off to overtime. The extra period was scoreless as well, so off to double OT this game went. 11:42 into double overtime, Duchene scored the winning goal with help from Joe Pavelski to give the Stars the win. Duchene, who played 8 full seasons and part of a 9th with the Avalanche, ended their season.
Pavelski said of Duchene's goal that "From what I remember, it was a little give-and-go. Dutchy made a nice play to me. I got a stick on it. It's just a battle. Caught Dutch kind of out of the corner of my eye on the side and just tried to get it out there. For me, you're battling and you know it gets out to him, and I just got an eye on the net. It was nice to see it go in."
The goalie matchup in game 6 was the same as it has been all series. Jake Oettinger, in goal for Dallas, made 29 saves on 30 shots for a .967 save percentage. Alexandar Georgiev had a .947 save percentage for the Avalanche behind 36 saves on 38 shots.
Colorado forward Zach Parise said of the season ending loss that "It’s one of those you feel you played well enough to win the game and force a Game 7, just didn’t happen. Just a little bit of shock when it ends suddenly like that. it takes some time to process everything, but just tough way to end."
The Stars will await the winner of the series between the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers as their opponent in the western conference finals. The Avalanche head home and will look to figure things out in the offseason.
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