Radulov continues strong playoff run in Stars' Game 7 victory

Alexander Radulov is a mercurial player.
He can take penalties at the worst time and can score huge goals at the best times.

He did both on Friday, but he found a way to do the latter more than the former.

Radulov continued a trend of being "Good Rads" at just the right time. Just as he did in October in engineering a comeback against Minnesota with an incredible goal late in the second period … just as he did in the Winter Classic, giving Dallas a lead in the third period … just as he has done three times in the playoffs by scoring game-winning goals. Radulov followed an ill-advised interference penalty in the third period by scoring a huge power-play goal that tied the game at 3-3.

It was a play that was needed, as the Avalanche seemed to be carrying momentum and the Stars seemed to be getting frustrated.
Radulov said it was just part of the team effort that has gotten the Stars to the third round of the playoffs.
"It's a Game 7. It doesn't matter who goes out there," said Radulov, who scored two goals and now has seven in the playoffs. "I'll take it, but it doesn't matter who's scoring. What matters is we move on and win the series. That's the big thing for us."

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Stars won't take long to celebrate

The Stars are in the bubble and said they would definitely enjoy the big Game 7 win on Friday. But, they added, they have to get ready for the start of the Western Conference finals on Sunday against Vegas.
"It's an unreal feeling," said defenseman John Klingberg, who had two assists in the game. "Obviously, it's been a great series. Obviously, a lot of goals scored. It's been a weird series for us players; it's been up and down throughout the whole series. That's what it is in playoffs. You've got to just keep your emotions intact - not get too high, not get too low. But obviously, tying the game, and then they score right away and we come back right after and score again. It's a lot of excitement, for sure, right now and some kind of relief as well.
"It feels good. We're going to feel good about ourselves. Yeah, we feel good."

Khudobin comes up big

Stars goalie Anton Khudobin has started 10 of the last 11 games for Dallas and has pushed his team into the Western Conference finals. On Friday, he allowed four goals on 44 shots and came up with some big saves. Maybe none was bigger than a sitting stop of Nazem Kadri.
"There was a puck right in front, so I tried to get as big as possible, but unfortunately the rebound came out and I kind of rolled into the wrong side of it," Khudobin said of the stop. "But I saw the puck, and he tried to shoot backhand. I'd like on that to see the puck and try to save it, and Rads actually helped me with that because I thought I saved it but it was the rebound, too, so he told me, 'Play, play, play.' I figured it was loose, so I stood up and kept going."

Bowness juggles lineup

In addition to losing forward Andrew Cogliano to injury and replacing him with Joel Kiviranta, Stars interim coach Rick Bowness decided his lines needed some shake up.
Bowness put Kiviranta on a line with Roope Hintz and Denis Gurianov, moved Jamie Benn into Cogliano's spot on a line with Radek Faksa and Blake Comeau, and then put Tyler Seguin on a line with Jason Dickinson and Corey Perry, and had Alexander Radulov on a line with Joe Pavelski and Mattias Janmark.
The decisions were made to attempt to give more energy to the forward group.
"We weren't very good offensively the last couple of games," Bowness said. "We had to shake it up, we had to give it a different look. We just knew it was time to shake the lines up."

Western Conference Final: Stars vs. Golden Knights

Sunday, 7 p.m. CT
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton
TV: NBC, Ch. 5
Radio:The Ticket 96.7-FM, 1310-AM
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.