Josh Manson scored an empty-net goal off a face-off at his own blue line at 18:44, and Makar scored another off a face-off at his own right circle at 19:03 for the 7-4 final.
“I'm not known for my face-offs, but I'm happy I could win a couple,” said MacKinnon. “Me and 'Manse' kind of talked about it, and we decided if I win it pretty clean, he should just go for it. We'll risk it. If it goes in, it's over, and thankfully he just nailed it. So it was awesome.”
Nichushkin scored to make it 1-0 Colorado when his wrist shot from the right circle deflected off the skate of defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin at 6:29 of the first period.
"He showed up big time today, and it was huge,” Necas said. “He had the huge goal in third. In the first, he got us going. I think we'll see more in Game 7.”
Artturi Lehkonen made it 2-0 at 18:40 after he redirected Makar’s whiffed shot from inside the blue line behind Oettinger.
Hintz scored a power-play goal to make it 2-1 at 1:18 of the second period. Rantanen fed him a backhand pass in the slot and Hintz put it into Blackwood’s five-hole.
“That was a good period, but, obviously, we didn't get the win. That's what matters in the end,” said Hintz. “We just got to have a short memory now and take all the good things, and then work on what we didn't do well, and then take the Game 7 at home.”
Mikael Granlund tied it 2-2 with a wrist shot over the glove of Blackwood at 3:41. Hintz fed him with a blue line to blue line pass for the breakaway.
Necas regained the lead for Colorado at 3-2 when he tapped in Makar’s crossing pass at the right post over the leg at 4:34.
“I just had my stick on the ice and I tapped it in,” Necas said.
Said Makar: “I saw ‘Marty’ driving back door. It was kind of a bouncing puck, so I just decided to throw it there, and Marty got a good stick on it.”
Hintz tied it 3-3 at 7:51 when his snap shot from the right circle went far side over the blocker while on the rush.
Rantanen gave Dallas a 4-3 lead with a quick wrist shot from between the hashes that went five-hole at 18:35.
“We were executing off the rush. A couple good plays by everybody on the line, finishing when we get a scoring chance,” he said. “Those periods obviously happen pretty rarely but try to do it as often as we can. I think it was execution. Everybody wanted the puck, and we were just passing it around pretty well.”
Rantanen, who was traded from the Avalanche to the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 24 then acquired by the Stars on March 7, has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past two games.
“He was awesome. It was great. Started earlier in the series, but I think every game, he’s more comfortable,” DeBoer said. “I thought that line was fantastic tonight. They’ve got to do that again in Game 7.”
Said Oettinger: “We knew what we were getting [in Rantanen]. We played him a ton. So just one of the best players in the world. The fact that he’s in green and white now is great and expect nothing less from him. He’s a [heck] of a player. I’m just happy he’s wearing our logo now.”
NOTES: Rantanen and Hintz became the first pair of teammates in NHL history to each record four points in a playoff period. … Rantanen and Hintz tied the NHL record for points in a playoff period. Only three other active players have hit the mark: Leon Draisaitl (Game 3 of 2022 second round), Kevin Labanc (Game 7 of 2019 first round) and Tyler Seguin (Game 2 of 2011 Western final). … MacKinnon factored on his seventh career third-period go-ahead goal in the playoffs and tied Claude Lemieux for third most in Avalanche/Nordiques history behind Joe Sakic (11) and Peter Forsberg (8).
