DENVER In a dramatic conclusion to the Western Conference Second Round, Matt Duchene’s goal at 11:42 of the second overtime secured a 2-1 victory for the Dallas Stars over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 at Ball Arena on Friday, sending the Stars to the conference final.
Duchene’sPHOTO BY NHL
“I don’t even know what [I did],” Duchene remarked about his game-winning moment. “I know I ended up on my knees like last time I got one in overtime, but I have no idea, to be honest with you. It’s just elation, right?”
Joe Pavelski seized a loose puck during a net-front scramble and delivered a backhand pass to Duchene, who fired it over a sprawling Alexandar Georgiev from just below the right face-off circle.
Pavelski’s Play-Making Prowess
“From what I remember, it was a little give-and-go. ‘Dutchy’ made a nice play to me. I got a stick on it,” Pavelski said. “It’s just a battle. Caught ‘Dutch’ kind of out of the corner of my eye on the side and just tried to get it out there. For me, you’re battling and you know it gets out to him, and I just got an eye on the net. It was nice to see it go in.”
The Stars will face either the Vancouver Canucks or Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Final. Vancouver leads that series 3-2 with Game 6 on Saturday.
This marks Dallas’ second consecutive trip to the conference final. They previously fell to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights in six games in 2023.
Marchment’s Near Miss
Mason Marchment almost clinched the win for Dallas in the first overtime with a wrist shot from the slot at 12:31, but the goal was immediately disallowed due to goaltender interference by Duchene. The call stood after video review.
“It’s indescribable. You’re so happy and see all the boys hopping over the bench and then I look over and he’s kind of waving it off,” Marchment said. “The explanation that I got was ‘Dutchy’s’ [back side] was over the line. His feet were outside, but his [back side] was over the line. That’s the explanation I got.”
“That’s hard. That’s a momentum swing. Sometimes it can be a huge break for them. I think they maybe did push a little bit after that. We got a good break at the end there, squeaks out to ‘Dutch’ and he scores.”
Jamie Benn scored the equalizer early in the third period, and Jake Oettinger made 29 saves for the Stars, the No. 1 seed from the Central Division.
Coach DeBoer’s Praise
“Our team comes in here and wins three road games against the best home team in the NHL,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “Just fantastic character to be able to do that against that team in this building. What a gauntlet. Colorado was a more rested team after their first round. I just couldn’t be prouder of our group. I thought everybody dug deep, and our depth did carry us through.”
“That gave us the spark because we’ve got a mix of older and younger guys, but they were just fantastic. Just hard to believe with a gauntlet like that that you’re only halfway there. But we’re going to enjoy and need the time off here, and get ready for the next round.”
Mikko Rantanen scored, and Georgiev made 36 saves for the Avalanche, the No. 3 seed from the Central.
Avalanche’s Effort
“It was tiring, there’s no question,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “You can see our energy level drop as the periods went on, but our guys played hard. They played hard every shift and defended hard.”
“They’re a really good team. They’re disciplined. They’re deep. They got great goaltending, [are] well coached. They got everything that you can ask for in a team. They’re a contender in my book. It [stinks]. You put so much into a season as a group and you come up short. It’s never a good feeling.”
Rantanen gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 5:48 of the second period on the power play, roofing a wrist shot short side over Oettinger from below the right circle.
Pavelski’s Perspective
“We’ve played with the lead a lot this series, and then we got tested here a little bit being down,” Pavelski said. “I think the second period, we weren’t great and we were kind of stubborn as far as putting pucks in and how we needed to kind of create. I think in the third and the overtimes, we were committed to doing it the right way. And we tied this game up by our forecheck, by creating some O-zone time.”
“Just a great play by [Tyler Seguin] and [Dadonov] and [Benn] to get us that one. It was a simple chip, driving the middle. [Dadonov] makes a great play over and [Benn] finishes it. That was kind of a huge turning point for us. You could feel the legs coming for everybody.”
As the Stars move forward, they carry with them the momentum of a hard-fought victory, ready to face the next challenge in their quest for the Stanley Cup.
