Rapid Recap: Avalanche 6, Stars 4 (Game 3)

The Colorado Avalanche rallied twice in Game 3 against the Dallas Stars and scored three unanswered goals in the third period to win 6-4 on Wednesday night at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.
Colorado tightens the best-of-seven Round 2 series, with Dallas now leading 2-1. Game 4 is Friday at 8 p.m.

Tyler Seguin opened the game's scoring midway through the first period for the Stars, but the Avalanche scored three times in 10 minutes to take the lead.
Dallas had its own comeback early in the third frame, scoring three times in a matter of six minutes to take a 4-3 advantage, but Mikko Rantanen tallied with 7:58 remaining to retie the outing. Nazem Kadri then scored on a deflection from a Kevin Connauton shot less than two minutes later to give the Avs the lead for good.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare added an empty-net marker with 94 seconds remaining in regulation.
Andre Burakovsky, Gabriel Landeskog and Nikita Zadorov also scored for the Avalanche, which received a 33-save performance from goaltender Pavel Francouz.
With three assists, Cale Makar recorded his first career three-point outing in the playoffs. Kadri, Rantanen, Zadorov and Nathan MacKinnon (two assists) also recorded multiple points for the Avalanche.
Statistics
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Photo Gallery
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Highlights
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Postgame Notes
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Video: Coach Bednar

THE GOALS

1st Period
11:12 DAL (0-1) - Tyler Seguin scored in the low shot after taking a pass from behind the goal line.
2nd Period
1:00 COL (1-1) - Following a faceoff win by Nazem Kadri, Nikita Zadorov's slap shot from the high slot knuckled through the air and fooled Dallas goalie Anton Khudobin before setting into the back of the cage.
4:41 COL (2-1) - After Nikita Zadorov kept the puck in at the point, Andre Burakovsky received a quick pass from Cale Makar and tallied with a wrist shot from the mid-slot.
11:00 COL (3-1) - Gabriel Landeskog wristed in a loose puck after a rebound from an original shot by Cale Makar.
3rd Period
4:42 DAL (3-2) - Six seconds after a power play expired, Denis Gurianov scored on a one-time shot from the right circle to get the Stars within one.
9:02 DAL (3-3) - Blake Comeau tied the game with a shot from the slot.
10:47 DAL (3-4) - Jamie Benn redirected a shot from the blue line after a faceoff win.
12:02 COL (4-4) - Mikko Rantanen finished a 2-on-1 rush with Nathan MacKinnon to tie the contest.
13:54 COL (5-4) - Nazem Kadri redirected Kevin Connauton's outside shot and into the net.
18:26 COL (6-4) - ENG, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored into an empty net.
Final: Avalanche - 6 | Stars - 4

3 STARS

1. Cale Makar (COL): Three assists
2. Mikko Rantanen (COL): Scored the game-tying goal
3. Nikita Zadorov (COL): Had first career multi-point game

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 0 for 3
Dallas: 0 for 3

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Pavel Francouz stopped 33 shots.
Dallas: Anton Khudobin made 26-of-31 saves.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Streak of Historic Proportions:Nathan MacKinnon recorded two assists to extend his season-opening point streak to 11 games, setting a new franchise record for the most consecutive contests with a point from the start of the postseason and at any point during a playoff year. Joe Sakic's 10-game season-opening streak in 1996 and Quebec's Marian Stastny's 10-game run during the 1982 playoffs were the previous best.
MacKinnon is the 11th player in NHL history to begin a postseason with a point streak of 11 or more games, and he's first to do accomplish it since Detroit's Johan Franzen had a 12-game streak in 2010. Overall, it is the 13th time that a player has opened the playoffs with a streak of 11 or more games (Bobby Orr and Mark Messier each did it twice).
Only Franzen, Washington's Evgeny Kuznetsov (11 games in 2018) and Chicago's Jonathan Toews (13 games in 2010) have produced point streaks of 11 games or more at any point during a playoff year since 2007.
MacKinnon has now recorded multiple points in five straight games, the first Avalanche player to do so since Peter Forsberg (five) in 2002.

NOTEBOOK

The Avalanche was credited with 71 hits, the most in franchise history for either a playoff or regular-season game since it became an official statistic. The previous playoff high was 46 set on April 17, 2019 vs. the Calgary Flames and the previous regular season best was 51 set on Nov. 30, 2015 at the New York Islanders--Colorado surpassed both marks by the second period when they registered 52 after 40 minutes of play… Cale Makar recorded his first career three-point game in the playoffs and his second career multi-point outing… After making his debut in last year's postseason, Makar now has 17 points (3g/14a) in 21 games across two postseasons with rookie eligibility. He ranks third in scoring by a rookie blueliner in the playoffs with only Chris Chelios (3g/17a in 24gp) and Larry Goodenough (3g/15a in 21gp) having more… Gabriel Landeskog tallied his second marker of the postseason to extend his point streak to five games, a new career long (two goals, six assists)… Nikita Zadorov recorded his first career multi-point performance in the playoffs after registering a goal and an assist. His tally was his second of the 2020 playoffs and the third of his postseason career… Mikko Rantanen extended his point streak to six games (four goals, five assists)… Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored his first goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs... Kevin Connauton recorded an assist his first career postseason point.

QUOTABLE

Nazem Kadri on the Colorado's comeback: "I think it is a character win. It would have been easy for us to get down on ourselves, but we understand that we can score goals in the dressing room. We're pretty comfortable paying every situation. Obviously blowing the lead, it wasn't our best, but it was a game that could definitely give us some momentum and hopefully change a series."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

IMAGE OF THE GAME
Welcome to the Playoffs, O.C.

INJURY UPDATE

Joonas Donskoi did not play in Game 3, the second contest he's missed this postseason (also Game 2 vs. Arizona)… Matt Calvert missed his third consecutive game… Philipp Grubauer and Erik Johnson are both out indefinitely after getting hurt in Game 1 on Saturday... Nikita Zadorov got hurt in the second period and left the contest. He returned to the bench for the third period but did not play.

UP NEXT

The Avalanche looks to even up the series on Friday as it takes on the Stars in Game 4 of their Round 2 series. Game time is set for 8 p.m. MT.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on the start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
95 Andre Burakovsky - 91 Nazem Kadri - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
17 Tyson Jost - 37 J.T. Compher - 90 Vladislav Namestnikov
83 Matt Nieto - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 25 Logan O'Connor
Defensemen
28 Ian Cole - 8 Cale Makar
16 Nikita Zadorov - 49 Samuel Girard
27 Ryan Graves - 7 Kevin Connauton
Goaltenders
39 Pavel Francouz (starter)
35 Michael Hutchinson (backup)