One of the wildest Stanley Cup Playoffs nights in the history of Ball Arena turned on one of the craziest own goals any hockey fan is ever going to see.
Nathan MacKinnon was credited with the go-ahead goal at 9:04 of the third period, and the Colorado Avalanche staved off elimination with a chaotic 7-4 victory in Thursday night’s Game 6 of this opening-round series that has more than lived up to the hype.
Game 7 will be Saturday in Dallas.
MacKinnon charged toward the Dallas net with only his left hand on his stick. He flung the puck toward the edge of the crease. Stars forward Sam Steel tried to chip it to his right and out of immediate danger. Instead, Colin Blackwell — the hero of Game 2 — shouldered the puck back toward the Stars net and goalie Jake Oettinger couldn’t corral it.
It was officially MacKinnon’s sixth goal of the series. It helped complete a third-period comeback after ex-Avs star Mikko Rantanen had given the Stars the lead with a four-point middle period.
Valeri Nichushkin scored his second goal of the night to even this contest at 4-4. Captain Gabe Landeskog shot the puck from the right wing, then Nichushkin kicked the rebound to his stick and banged home the rebound with 13:58 remaining.
He had just one goal in the series before this. A year ago, Nichushkin was the hottest goal scorer in the NHL until he was suspended ahead of Game 4 in the second round against these Stars.
His frustration has shown at times during this series, including a stick-smashing at the morning skate ahead of Game 6.
“I don’t love seeing it because it means that he’s not happy with the way he’s playing,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said after the skate. “When you’re playing well, you’re not breaking sticks and stuff. I do know that he holds himself to a very high standard of play.
“He’s had a couple games in this series that haven’t been great. I just go back to, say Game 4, when he was one of the best players on the ice. I know that he can repeat that, so I relay that to him. It’s just put the work first and the rest will follow.”
Dallas roared back and eventually grabbed the lead during a chaotic second period. Rantanen factored into all four Stars goals. He assisted on the first three — two by Roope Hintz and one by Mikael Granlund — as the middle frame became a Finnish fiesta inside Ball Arena.
The first one, credited to Hintz, was unfortunate for the Avs. Mackenzie Blackwood lost his stick with Dallas on the power play, then Charlie Coyle ended up knocking the puck into his net while crashing to the ice.
The next three needed no good fortune. Granlund got behind Cale Makar on the second. Hintz swooped in on the right wing and got by a stumbling Artturi Lehkonen on the third one. Rantanen fooled Blackwood with a shot along the ice from between the circles on the go-ahead score.
When the Avs were bleeding goals in the second period, they created some of the best chances of the series. Makar made a beautiful play to set up Martin Necas for a tap-in as Colorado regained the lead at 3-2.
Necas hit the post later in the period, and Josh Manson found the iron as well. Jake Oettinger made multiple incredible saves. After two periods, the Avs had 37 scoring chances, but the Stars had still forged ahead.
Rantanen and Hintz became the first pair of teammates to collect four points each in a period in Stanley Cup Playoffs history.
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Just like in Dallas for Game 5, the home team collected a two-goal lead in the opening period with the help of some fortunate bounces.
Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell got a piece of Nichushkin’s shot from the right wing and it was heading for the left corner … until it hit Ilya Lyubushkin’s skate and took a right turn into the net 6:29 of the first.
Cale Makar lined up a one-timer blast from the right circle late in the second period, and whiffed. But, he got just enough of it to send a dribbler toward the net and Lehkonen stepped in front of a defenseman to sweep it into the net at 18:40.
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