Rapid Recap: Stars 5, Avalanche 4 (Game 4)

The Colorado Avalanche fell 5-4 to the Dallas Stars in Game 4 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round on Sunday at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.
Dallas scored three times in the opening period, and Colorado rallied twice to get within one goal but couldn't complete the comeback.
The Avs scored twice in the second period to cut the deficit to 3-2, but the Stars extended their lead to 5-2 with two goals in a 32-second span in the third. Colorado tallied twice more in the final frame but ran out of time before finding the equalizer.

Valeri Nichushkin found the back of the net twice in the contest, and Cale Makar (goal and assist), Andre Burakovsky (two assists) and Samuel Girard (two assists) also had multi-point outings for the Avs. Vladislav Namestnikov scored with 2.6 seconds remaining to make it a one-goal contest.
The Stars went 3-for-6 on the power play and had five different goal scorers in the contest. Anton Khudobin made 33-of-37 saves. Dallas has a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Game 5 is Monday with puck drop scheduled for 7:45 p.m. MT.
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 Postgame
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Video: Burakovsky, Landeskog & MacKinnon Postgame

THE GOALS

1st Period
6:18 DAL (0-1) - John Klingberg cleaned up a loose rebound to open the game's scoring.
8:33 DAL (0-2) - PPG, Radek Faksa located a loose puck in the crease and backhanded it into the net.
10:45 DAL (0-3) - PPG, Jamie Benn tipped the puck into the net after an Alexander Radulov shot.
2nd Period
13:24 COL (1-3) - Valeri Nichushkin battled to the front of the net and scored his first goal of the 2020 playoffs.
19:34 COL (2-3) - PPG, Cale Makar scored on a 5-on-3 with a one-timer from the left circle after a seam pass from Nathan MacKinnon.
3rd Period
7:30 DAL (2-4) - PPG, Right before the power-play opportunity expired, Roope Hintz scored to double Dallas' lead.
8:02 DAL (2-5) - DenisGurianov scored following a Colorado turnover.
11:24 COL (3-5) - Valeri Nichushkin recorded his second marker of the game with a shot from the blue line.
19:56 COL (4-5) - Vladislav Namestnikov scored after Nazem Kadri won an offensive-zone faceoff.
Final: Stars - 5 | Avalanche - 4

3 STARS

Selected by NHL

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 1 for 5
Dallas: 3 for 6

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Pavel Francouz made 21 saves before being replaced by Michael Hutchinson with 11:58 remaining in the third period. Hutchinson made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut and stopped all three shots he faced.
Dallas: Anton Khudobin allowed four goals on 37 shots.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Cale Makar scored and added an assist and now has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) this postseason. It is the most points by an Avalanche blueliner in the playoffs since 2002 (Greg deVries 13).
The Calgary, Alberta, native's 13 points are the most by a first-year skater this playoff. Including his points in the 2019 postseason, Makar has recorded 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) in 22 career Stanley Cup Playoff games.

NOTEBOOK

Nathan MacKinnon extended his point streak to 12 games, becoming the sixth different player in NHL history to start a postseason with a streak of 12 or more games… MacKinnon leads the league with 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) this postseason, the most by an Avalanche skater in a single playoff year since Peter Forsberg had 27 in 2002… Valeri Nichushkin scored his first goal of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs and then tallied again. He now has three goals in 29 career playoff games... It was Nichushkin's third multi-goal game of his NHL career (regular season or playoffs)... Michael Hutchinson made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut... The contest was Colorado's ninth afternoon outing of the postseason and the team is now 6-2-1 in those games.

QUOTABLE

Head coach Jared Bednar on the contest: "The game was a little bit closer than what the score was for part of it, we just gave them too many opportunities to capitalize. We got to be better. It's a defensive improvement we have to make."

BIG HIGHLIGHT

ROSTER REPORT

The Avalanche used the same lineup as it did in Game 3 on Wednesday but made a few changes to its defensive pairings. Ryan Graves began the game on a duo with Cale Makar, Samuel Girard was with Nikita Zadorov and Ian Cole was paired with Kevin Connauton.

INJURY UPDATE

After not playing in the second half of Game 3 on Wednesday, Nikita Zadorov returned to the game action… Forwards Joonas Donskoi and Matt Calvert, defenseman Erik Johnson and goaltender Philipp Grubauer remain unfit to play.

UP NEXT

Colorado and Dallas complete a back-to-back set on Monday at Rogers Place in Game 5. It marks the first time since the franchise relocated to Denver that the Avalanche will play multiple back-to-backs in the same playoff year.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on 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
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 16 Nikita Zadorov
28 Ian Cole - 7 Kevin Connauton
Goaltenders
39 Pavel Francouz
35 Michael Hutchinson