Avalanche and Stars Face Off in Game 7

The Colorado Avalanche has forced a Game 7 after defeating the Dallas Stars in each of the past two contests to avoid elimination and now has a chance to advance to the Western Conference Final with a win on Friday.
The best-of-seven series is tied at 3-3 after the Avalanche won 6-3 on Monday in Game 5 and 4-1 on Wednesday in Game 6.
Dallas opened the scoring in Game 6, but the Avs responded less than two minutes later when Nikita Zadorov tied the contest in the final seconds of the first period. Cale Makar put Colorado ahead in the second frame, and then Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon each scored in the third to seal the victory.

Avalanche goaltender Michael Hutchinson stopped 27-of-28 shots to become the seventh goaltender in NHL history to earn his first two career postseason wins in elimination games. On the other end, Dallas goalie Anton Khudobin saved 20-of-23 shots he faced.

Avalanche VS. Dallas Stars | Game 7

Rogers Place | Edmonton, Alberta
| Game Time: | 2 p.m. MT | | --- | --- | | TV: | USA Network, Sportsnet, TVA Sports | | Radio: | Altitude Sports Radio, FM 92.5 (KKSE) | | Live Streams: | NHL.tv, Official app, NBCSports.com, NBC Sports app (blackouts apply) | | Online Audio: | Listen Live Here | | Follow: | Virtual GameDay, Digital Arena, Playoff Central, @Avalanche, Official app, Gamecenter |

COLORADO-DALLAS CONNECTIONS

Valeri Nichushkin was taken in the first round (No. 10 overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft by the Dallas Stars and played four seasons with the franchise… Colorado defenseman Kevin Connauton played parts of two seasons, from 2013-2015, with the Stars… Avalanche forward Logan O'Connor was born in Missouri City, Texas... Stars forward Blake Comeau played for Colorado from 2015-2018… Dallas goaltender Ben Bishop was born in Denver.

HISTORY

The Stars had a 3-1 series lead, scoring five goals in each of their wins, but the Avs have responded with victories in the last two contests to even the best-of-seven set. After losing Games 1 and 2 by scores of 5-3 and 5-2, respectively, Colorado won 6-4 in Game 3. Dallas took Game 4, 5-4, before the Avs won 6-3 on Monday and 4-1 on Wednesday. Andre Burakovsky, who notched three points (two goals, one assist) in Game 5, added an assist on Wednesday to extend his point streak to four games (three goals, four assists). Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen added a goal and an assist in each of Colorado's past two wins, extending their point streaks to 14 games and nine games, respectively.
MacKinnon leads the series with 12 points (five goals, seven assists) and Rantanen is second with 10 (four goals, six assists). Jamie Benn leads the Stars in scoring with eight points (three goals, five assists).
The Avs beat the Stars 4-0 earlier this postseason on Aug. 5 in round-robin play, with goaltender Pavel Francouz becoming the first goalie in franchise history to post a shutout in his first playoff start. During the regular season, Colorado went 0-2-2 against its division rival, with the Avs dropping the first two outings in regulation, losing 2-1 on Nov. 1 and 4-1 on Nov. 5. Colorado then fell by 3-2 scores in the final two games, losing in a shootout on Dec. 28 and in overtime on Jan. 14.
The Avalanche holds a 69-53-23 all-time mark against Dallas in the regular season, with a 46-35-19 record since moving to Denver in 1995. MacKinnon has 30 points (10 goals and 20 assists) in 31 career regular-season games against Dallas, the most he's tallied against a single opponent.
This year marks the fifth time that the teams have met in the playoffs, with each club having won two of the previous sets. The Stars won back-to-back Game 7s during the 1999 and 2000 Western Conference Finals, but Colorado won the last two meetings, both in five games, in the 2004 and 2006 conference quarterfinals.

ROSTER REPORT

Head coach Jared Bednar didn't have an update on the status of Gabriel Landeskog or Conor Timmins on Thursday. Landeskog left Game 6 with 2:30 left in the second period with a cut on his leg, but he did play a shift in the third period. Timmins exited midway through the second stanza and did not return. Bednar did not say who would be in net for Game 7; Michael Hutchinson has started the last two games as Pavel Francouz and Philipp Grubauer were both unfit to play. Bednar mentioned on Thursday that there is chance that one or several current injured Avs could return for Game 7--Matt Calvert, Joonas Donskoi and Erik Johnson have also been out.

SCOUTING THE STARS

The Stars have 23 goals in the second round, the second-most behind the Avs (25). Fending off all five of Colorado's power plays on Wednesday, the Stars have killed off 89.3 percent of their penalties in this series, the second-best kill rate in Round 2 behind only the New York Islanders (100 percent). Dallas still owns the best power play of the second round, converting on 33.3 percent of its chance, but Colorado committed just one penalty on Wednesday and held strong on its only short-handed situation.
Overall in the postseason for Dallas, Miro Heiskanen leads the team with 19 points (five goals, 14 assists) while Denis Gurianov is second with 14 points (eight goals, six assists); Heiskanen scored the Stars' lone goal in Game 6 while Gurianov recorded an assist on the tally. Anton Khudobin has a 2.20 goals-against average and .909 save percentage in the postseason; he has a .897 save percentage in this series.

(AVS) PLAYER TO WATCH: Nathan MacKinnon

Nathan MacKinnon has been the best offensive player in the 2020 NHL playoffs, surging to 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) after making the scoresheet in all 14 games. It's longest playoff point streak since 2006 when Carolina's Eric Staal had a point in 15 straight playoff contests. His streak is tied for the second-longest to begin a postseason in NHL history (Mark Messier in 1988 and Bobby Orr in 1970), with only Bryan Trottier (18 games in 1981) having a longer stretch to start a playoff run.
In addition to his 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in this series, MacKinnon has averaged 23:03 minutes on the ice, the most in the league for a non-defenseman in Round 2. He's taken an NHL-high 29 shots and his plus-seven rating is tied for the best with Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman.

(OPPOSING) PLAYER TO WATCH: Roope Hintz

Roope Hintz has registered at least one point in four of six games this series, totaling two goals and three assists. He has seen more time on the ice in the last two games than the first four against Colorado, as he skated 16:06 in Game 5 and 15:42 in Game 6.
Hintz's biggest offensive performance came in Game 4, when he earned an assist on the second goal and scored in the third period of the Stars' eventual 5-4 win. Both came on the power play.

NUMBERS GAME

5

Andre Burakovsky has played the most Game 7s on the Avalanche's current roster with five. He's scored three goals in those contests.

11

Nathan MacKinnon's 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) in the playoffs is 11 than the four leading scorers (tied at 14) had through the first two rounds of last year's postseason.

20

Colorado has a plus-20 goals differential (56 to 36), the best ratio in the playoffs.

35.9

The Avs' 35.9 shots per game in the playoffs so far is the second-highest average among remaining teams (Vegas: 37.2)

NOTEBOOK

Cale Makar is second among rookies in scoring in the playoffs with 15 points (four goals, 11 assists). He was leading all first-year players until Vancouver's Quinn Hughes had two points on Thursday to take over the scoring lead with 16 points (two goals, 14 assists)… The Stars and Avs have the first and second-most hits in the second round with 301 and 237, respectively… Colorado has started three different goaltenders in the postseason for the second time in franchise history (Quebec Nordiques, 1995)… Mikko Rantanen (nine games), Cale Makar (five games), Andre Burakovsky (four games) and Samuel Girard (three games) joined Nathan MacKinnon (14 games) in extending their respective point streaks in Game 6… The Avs are looking for their first Game 7 win against the Stars after losing in the decisive final contest in both the 1999 and 2000 Western Conference Finals.