Dallas Stars eliminate Calgary Flames in blowout Game 6 victory
The Dallas Stars eliminated the Calgary Flames from the first round of the 2020 playoffs with a 7-3 blowout victory.
The Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars played Game 6 of their playoff series on Thursday night. Dallas went into this game with a 3-2 series lead and were looking for the elimination.
Another disappointing pre-game note for fans was that Matthew Tkachuk once again would be sitting this game out. Ben Bishop still deemed unfit to play along with Stephen Johns. Goaltending matchups stayed the same with Anton Khudobin and Cam Talbot getting the starts. Buddy Robinson slid into the Flames lineup and was among some other line shuffling the Flames try in this match-up.
The Flames came out hungry and desperate to keep this series alive. The first period was an exceptional start for Calgary with three goals being scored in the span of 2:52. It started with a tip-in from Andrew Mangiapane, a power play goal from Johnny Gaudreau, and a slap shot from Rasmus Andersson.
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At this point in this period, Calgary scored on three of their seven shots and Dallas had been unsuccessful in getting any quality zone time. This resulted in a three-goal deficit and zero shots on goal for the Stars.
Milan Lucic took a penalty and this opened up an opportunity for the Dallas Stars to get one back. Miro Heiskanen beat Talbot short-side and Dallas came within two goals of Calgary.
Flames players continued to get good looks in the first period and Johnny Gaudreau tried his wraparound shot twice, but was unsuccessful on both attempts. When asked about this in his intermission interview, Gaudreau said he wasn’t sure if he’ll score that way tonight because he thought Khudobin is starting to see it coming.
Starting the second period down by two did not slow down the Stars. 59 seconds into the period, Denis Gurianov scored on a tip-in that puts his team within one. He lit the lamp again 2:26 later and this brought a goaltending change for the Flames. David Rittich came into this game for the first time this series. He also did not see any time in net during their qualifying series against the Winnipeg Jets.
David Rittich appeared to show some rust and could not get a handle on the loose pucks early in his appearance. A rebound play by Radek Faksa put Dallas ahead for the first time this game. Rasmus Andersson made a diving effort to prevent this goal, but it was not quite enough. Four unanswered goals for the Stars and it didn’t stop there.
Joe Pavelski got his first goal of the night for goal number five for Dallas. The Flames were still unable to slow them down or get a goal back themselves. Johnny Gaudreau stopped a scoring chance with Corey Perry coming up on a breakaway and cleanly chipped the puck away without putting himself in the penalty box.
Later in the period, Denis Gurianov scored once again on Rittich to complete his hat trick. Dallas finished period two doubling Calgary’s score and with six goals on less than 17 shots. The Flames were outshooting the Stars 27-17 at the end of period two but were drastically outscored 6-3.
The Flames brought Talbot back to start the third period but it was not enough to bring a spark to his team. They lacked urgency and emotionally charged play in the final 20 minutes and pretty much packed their own bags to leave the bubble before the game is even over. The Flames managed to put up 41 shots this game but not a lot of high-quality scoring chances coming out of them.
The Stars scored their seventh unanswered goal just over nine minutes into this period with the fourth goal from Gurianov. The Stars absolutely extinguished the Flames and did not leave any opportunities for them to even get a single goal back. A heartbreaking loss for Flames fans and an outstanding win for the Stars to carry them into the second round of the playoffs.
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After this loss, the Flames have been eliminated from the 2020 NHL playoffs and the Dallas Stars will advance into the second round where they will face the Colorado Avalanche. Game dates and times are to be determined.