Dallas Stars win Game 7 in overtime to eliminate Avalanche

Game 7 between the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars would decide who advanced to the Western Conference Final, and it required overtime to do so.

The seventh game of a playoff series always has high energy, as both combatants are playing to keep their seasons alive. This Game 7 between the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars was no different.

A strong opening shift by Colorado ended with a penalty and an opportunity for Dallas to match the fast start. Alexander Radulov made sure to do just that, scoring a power play goal to give the Stars an early 1-0 lead.

It took just over a minute, though, for the Avs to answer back. Vladislav Namestnikov tipped a shot from Ian Cole to tie the game at one. The early goals were indicative of the overall offensive play, as both teams had at least five shots on goal in the first six minutes.

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The Stars got the majority of the chances as the period progressed, but it was the Avalanche that found the next goal. Andre Burakovsky struck for his seventh tally of the playoffs to give his club its first lead of Game 7, despite being outshot.

The Avalanche earned another advantage later in the period when the Stars took a penalty. The Avalanche power play unit continued to struggle, and to make matters worse, Gabriel Landeskog was deemed unfit to play in this game, so the Avs did not have his services to help the man advantage. When the period came to a close, shots were 15-15, and Colorado owned a 2-1 edge.

Like the first period, the second period featured offense early and often. The Stars were able to capitalize, as Joel Kiviranta redirected a shot from Denis Gurianov to score his first career postseason goal. Kiviranta was inserted into the lineup to take the place of the injured Andrew Cogliano.

The Dallas momentum continued when Anton Khudobin made a key save on a Matt Nieto breakaway opportunity only moments after the Stars evened the score. The momentum shifted, however, when Dallas took another penalty, and the Avs power play finally cashed in.

The Stars had been flirting with disaster for a lot of this series with the number of infractions committed, but the Avalanche had largely let them off the hook. This time, Nazem Kadri, who has had an outstanding playoff performance for Colorado, banged home a loose puck sitting in the blue paint to restore his team’s one goal lead.

Not long after, the Avs were awarded another power play chance, but this time Dallas came away unscathed, at least in terms of the score. Colorado spent the entire two minute advantage in the Stars’ end and continued to build off of its chances after the power play expired, as it took a lead in shots that it wouldn’t relinquish for the remainder of the period.

The totals were 31-26 after two periods, and the score remained 3-2, thanks to another impressive save by Khudobin, this time on Kadri. At the other end, the Stars late push almost resulted in a tied game, but when Radek Faksa put the puck in the net, time had already expired.

The third period did not start quite as fast as the first two periods did, and I have to think that’s a good thing for the Avalanche. Colorado had been outshot 27-7 in the last two third periods combined. In both instances, the Avs were up in the game and took their foot off of the gas, so not doing that early in the third period of Game 7 was a plus.

However, a penalty around the halfway point of the period meant the Stars were able to go on the power play, and they took advantage. At that point, Dallas was 2/2 on the power play in the game, and 9/23 for the series. Just like the first goal on the man advantage, it was Radulov that scored, tying Game 7 at three.

The deadlock was almost broken with just under six minutes to play, but a scramble in front of Colorado goaltender Michael Hutchinson led to a shot that hit the post. Instead, the Avalanche got the go-ahead goal from Namestnikov, who already had scored once in the game.

That lead lasted all of ten seconds, though, as Kiviranta, who was in the Stars’ lineup as an injury replacement, notched his second goal of the contest to make it a 4-4 game. Both teams got some chances from there, but the third period ended with a flurry in the Colorado zone, just as the second period did, but the tie was not broken, so the teams headed to overtime.

The overtime period was played with a lot of pace, especially when the Avalanche possessed the puck. Shots were infrequent compared to the first three periods, and when one was registered, it came off of a Colorado stick.

As overtime progressed, the Stars finally got some zone time and some shots, and at the 7:24 mark, Joel Kiviranta, in only his third career playoff game, scored the overtime winner to cap the hat trick and the series win for Dallas.

This series was wildly entertaining from start to finish, so it was only fitting that Game 7 needed to be decided in extra time. For the Avalanche, injuries and untimely penalties caught up with them in this game and series. Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Nazem Kadri were some of the most impressive players in these playoffs, but it wasn’t quite enough.

On the Dallas side, this will be the first appearance in the Western Conference Final since 2008. Most of the top players showed up in this series to provide offense that the Stars have been lacking for the last several seasons, and that really pushed them over the top against the Avalanche.

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The Avalanche will have to figure out how to add to this team in the shortened offseason, while the Stars will meet either the Vegas Golden Knights or the Vancouver Canucks for the right to play for the Stanley Cup.

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