Rapid Recap: Stars 5, Avalanche 2 (Game 2)

The Colorado Avalanche scored the first two goals of the contest, but the Dallas Stars scored five unanswered to win 5-2 in Game 2 of the Round 2 series on Monday at Rogers Place.
Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen each tallied on the power play before the Stars scored twice with the man advantage in less than a minute.

Joe Pavelski, Radek Faksa, Alexander Radulov and Esa Lindell tallied for Dallas before Jamie Oleksiak notched a puck into an empty net to seal the win.
The Avs outshot the Stars 40-27, including by a 20-6 margin in the first period.
Dallas leads the best-of-seven set 2-0. Game 3 is set for Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. MT at Rogers Place.
Highlights
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Photo Gallery
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Statistics
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Video: Coach Bednar
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Video: Pavel Francouz, Gabriel Landeskog & Cale Makar
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Postgame Notes

THE GOALS

1st Period
6:08 COL (1-0) - PPG, Nathan MacKinnon got the Avs on the board first with a one-timer from the slot after Mikko Rantanen passed him the puck from the top of the right circle.
2nd Period
8:44 COL (2-0) - PPG, Mikko Rantanen scored far-side while on the power play after receiving the puck from Nathan MacKinnon.
9:54 DAL (2-1) - PPG, Joe Pavelski cut Colorado's lead in half by scoring from the bottom of the left circle during a 5-on-3 power play.
10:37 DAL (2-2) - PPG, Radek Faksa tallied his second marker of the postseason to knot the game on the power play.
15:34 DAL (2-3) - Dallas took the lead after Jamie Benn centered the puck, and it caromed off Alexander Radulov and into the Colorado net.
19:14 DAL (2-4) - Esa Lindell pushed a loose puck in the Avalanche crease into the net under Pavel Francouz's pad.
3rd Period
19:50 DAL (2-5) - ENG, Jamie Oleksiak scored into an empty net from the other side of the ice.
Final: Stars - 5 | Avalanche - 2

3 STARS

Selected by NHL

POWER PLAYS

Colorado: 2 for 8
Dallas: 2 for 3

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Pavel Francouz started his first game of the series and stopped 22 of the 26 shots he faced.
Dallas: Anton Khudobin allowed two power-play goals on 40 shots.

STAT OF THE NIGHT

Nathan MacKinnon has a point in all 10 games this postseason, and with his goal in the first period he tied the Avalanche/Nordiques franchise record for the longest point streak in a single playoff year. Joe Sakic also had points in 10 straight games in 1996 and Marian Stastny did the same in 1982 with Quebec.
MacKinnon's streak is the tied for the longest to start a playoff year in franchise history--with Sakic's 1996 run--and it is the longest in the NHL this postseason.

NOTEBOOK

MacKinnon's goal was the 18th of his career and moves him into a tie with Sandis Ozolinsh and Alex Tanguay for eighth all-time in Avalanche franchise history during the playoffs (since 1995-96)… MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen each recorded multiple points in the outing, the fourth-straight contest MacKinnon has collected more than one point... Cale Makar logged 27:48 of ice time, the most minutes ever by an Avalanche rookie in the playoffs... Kevin Connauton appeared in his first postseason contest in an Avalanche sweater, playing in his first playoff contest since April 25, 2014 as a member of the Dallas Stars... Pierre-Edouard Bellemare reached a new postseason career high with six hits in the outing, surpassing his previous best of five (April 26, 2018 vs. San Jose)... With Erik Johnson out of the lineup, Nazem Kadri wore an alternate captain 'A' in the game.

BIG HIGHLIGHT

QUOTABLE

Forward Gabriel Landeskog on the mindset going into Game 3:"For us, it's a seven-game series for a reason, right? We feel more than anything that we are in this thing. We have been up 2-0 before and we know how quick it can turn and all of a sudden, it's a tight series. For us, like I said, it's a seven-game series for a reason and there is no quit in this group."

IMAGE OF THE GAME

Playoff Hockey.

ROSTER REPORT

Kevin Connauton entered the lineup to play in his first game of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs… Pavel Francouz started his third game of the postseason… Colorado mixed up its bottom-six forward lines, moving Vladislav Namestnikov to a trio with Tyson Jost and J.T. Compher and putting Valeri Nichushkin with Matt Nieto and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.

INJURY UPDATE

Matt Calvert missed his second consecutive game of the playoffs and remains day-to-day… Head coach Jared Bednar announced Monday morning that defenseman Erik Johnson and goaltender Philipp Grubauer are both out indefinitely.

UP NEXT

The Avs will face the Stars in Game 3 of the best-of-seven set on Wednesday at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Puck drop is set for 8:30 p.m. MT

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on start of the game
Forwards
92 Gabriel Landeskog - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
95 Andre Burakovsky - 91 Nazem Kadri - 72 Joonas Donskoi
17 Tyson Jost - 37 J.T. Compher - 90 Vladislav Namestnikov
83 Matt Nieto - 41 Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - 13 Valeri Nichushkin
Defensemen
27 Ryan Graves - 8 Cale Makar
49 Samuel Girard - 28 Ian Cole
16 Nikita Zadorov - 7 Kevin Connauton
Goaltenders
39 Pavel Francouz
35 Michael Hutchinson