Disciplined Play Helps Colorado Force Game 7

Entering Game 6, the Second Round series between the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars had been bursting with goals as both teams exhibited their offensive firepower.
Not on Wednesday night.
The Avs demonstrated their defensive strengths and limited the Stars chances in their 4-1 win to avoid elimination and tie the best-of-seven set at 3-3 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.

Going into the contest, Colorado and Dallas had combined for 43 goals, with the Avalanche scoring 21 markers. The winning club in each outing had scored at least five times and the squads were averaging a total of 8.6 goals per game, the second-most through five games of a playoff series in the last 24 years.
One of the reasons that the Avalanche had success at limiting the Stars in Game 6 was that the team stayed out of the penalty box and only gave Dallas one opportunity with the man advantage.
"The first thing for me was the discipline. We had just one penalty kill tonight, and it was accidental, the [Ian] Cole high stick," said Colorado head coach Jared Bednar. "I thought that we did a nice job checking with our legs and skating instead of reaching in, much more disciplined on the retaliation type stuff, more intelligent with the way we handled their physicality. We got to our game.
"Was it our best defensively? I don't know. I really liked our third, I liked parts of our second. The first period was a little sloppy for me, I didn't think we managed the puck real well but as the game went on we got better and better with the puck and that was key. It was good enough to win the hockey game… I thought positionally we were pretty good. We made it more difficult for them to get to the interior of the ice for sure, so there's a lot that we've kind of improved just gradually throughout the course of the series I think."

Trailing 3-1 in the series after four outings, Colorado has won two games in a row to keep its season alive as it also picked up a 6-3 victory in Game 5 on Monday. It is the first time the Avalanche/Nordiques franchise has rallied to force a Game 7 when facing that kind of series deficit.
Taking something out of each matchup in the set and discovering a way to cultivate its game from each contest has been one of the main factors in helping Colorado even the series at 3-3.
"I think you build; I think that's the key. You have to learn from what you did well every night and what you need to work on, and we are going to do that," said Avs forward Nathan MacKinnon. "We are going to review this game, find some things that we need to improve on but also build on the positive things. You can't forget about every game; you'll never get better or maintain your success. We did a lot of good things defensively tonight that we need to bring in Game 7 and hopefully we can move on to the third round."
The decisive seventh contest will be the third potential elimination game in a row for the Avalanche. It will be different in that the Stars will be in the same position, but Colorado's focused mindset will need to be the same as it has been for the last two outings.
"I think for these past few games our mindset has changed. Obviously, we are on the ropes and we have a team that's going to fight until the end here," said rookie defenseman Cale Makar. "The next one is obviously a very big one for us. It's going to be a fun one, but at the same time it's still going to be a test and we are going to need to bring our A game."

CLUTCH HUTCH

Making his second Stanley Cup Playoff start, Michael Hutchinson stopped 27 of the 28 shots he faced to become the seventh goaltender in NHL playoff history to earn his first two career postseason wins in games when facing elimination.
He joins Jacques Plante (1952), Robbie Moore (1978), Frank Pietrangelo (1990), Wade Flaherty (1994), Manny Fernandez (2002) and Michael Leighton (2009).

"It's hard not to understand what's going on, especially in the bubble," Hutchinson said. "There's not much besides hockey, but for myself I am just happy to have this opportunity and I am just enjoying playing and having fun out there."
Entering the Edmonton hub city as the third goalie on the Avalanche's depth chart, Hutchinson dressed as the backup goaltender for the first time this postseason in Game 2 of the series against Dallas on Aug. 24. He made his NHL playoff debut in Game 4 on Aug. 30, playing 9:21 in the outing in a relief appearance, and got the call to start Game 5 of the series after Pavel Francouz was deemed to be unfit to play.
"My career has been a long journey, been sent down and called up a bunch of times. There's always some moments when you get sent down where you never think you are going to play another NHL game, but those moments you kind of put them behind and just enjoy playing hockey and have fun with it," Hutchinson said. "For myself it's just keep working hard and try to be a good teammate, and it's kind of interesting how hockey works out and how things change sometimes."

ALL HAIL CALE

Cale Makar notched his fourth goal of the postseason and now has 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in the playoffs, the most points by a rookie defenseman in Stanley Cup Playoff history. Makar leads all first-year players in scoring during the 2020 postseason and is tied for second among all league defensemen.

His 15 points are the second most by a rookie in a single postseason in franchise history (Marian Stastny, 17 in 1982) and the most by an Avalanche defenseman since Rob Blake had 19 points in 2001.
Makar's tally on Wednesday marked his second game-winning goal of the playoffs, tied for the most among all rookies in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs (Chicago's Dominik Kubalik).

GAME 7 HISTORY

Friday's Game 7 marks the third time that the Avalanche and Stars will require a Game 7 to decide a playoff series. The franchises met in the 1999 and 2000 Western Conference Finals, and each of those best-of-seven sets also went the distance.
Both the Avs and Stars played in a Game 7 of Round 2 last year against the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues, respectively. This year, one of the clubs will brereakthrough and advance to the Western Conference Finals.
"In terms of Game 7, it's my third one I guess, I haven't won one yet. Looking to change that in a couple days here, excited for the challenge," said Nathan MacKinnon. "It's going to be the toughest game for us to win. I think we have created some momentum for our team, and you know we're learning. I think right now we are either winning or learning and that's the key. Looking for the same effort, same responsibility as tonight, a little bit better start, but we are happy with our defensive game."

MORE AVALANCHE NOTES

Nathan MacKinnon tallied two points (1g/1a) and has notched a point in all 14 of Colorado's playoff games so far, the longest playoff point streak since 2006 when Carolina's Eric Staal had a point in 15 straight playoff contests. MacKinnon's streak is tied for the second longest to begin a postseason in NHL history (Mark Messier in 1988 and Bobby Orr in 1970). Only Bryan Trottier (18 games in 1981) has a longer stretch to start a postseason.
MacKinnon recorded his eighth multi-point game of the playoffs, the most by a Colorado skater in the playoffs since Peter Forsberg (10) in 2002.

He has a league-best 25 points (9g/16a) in the playoffs and is the first player to record 25 points in a postseason in 14 or fewer games played since Wayne Gretzky with Los Angeles in 1993 (8g/17a in 14 games).
MacKinnon now has 20 career playoff goals, moving into a tie for 10th place in the category in franchise history (Anton Stastny).
MacKinnon's nine markers this year are the most by an Avalanche player since Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg each scored nine in 2002, and his 25 points are the most since Forsberg's 27 points that same year.
Mikko Rantanen tallied two points (1g/1a) for his second straight multi-point game and fourth of the series. Rantanen extended his point streak to nine games and has totaled 15 points (6g/9a) over that span. He now has a career-high seven goals this postseason, eclipsing his previous best of six during the 2019 playoffs. Rantanen's 20 points (7g/13a) rank second among all players in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.