In Edmonton, in a game of streaky scoring, the Colorado Avalanche responded to a three-goal outburst from the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night, with three- goal reply in a 6-4 win.
The Stars lead the series, 2-1.
Nazem Kadri put the Avs ahead for good, 5-4, with a strike in the third period.
“I think it’s a character win,” Kadri said. “It would have been easy for us to get down on ourselves, but we understand we can score goals … we’re pretty comfortable playing in every situation. Obviously blowing the lead, it wasn’t our best, but this is a game that can definitely give us some momentum and hopefully change a series.”
Pavel Francouz made 33 saves to get the win.
The Stars tool a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal from Tyler Seguin before the Avs reeled off three straight from Nikita Zadorov, Andre Burakovsky and Gabriel Landeskog.
“It’s a matter of just character in this room and on the bench,” Landeskog said. “We understood how big this game was going to be tonight and how pivotal it would be and we got ourselves a series.”
Mikko Rantanen and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (empty net) also scored in the third period rally for the Avs.
“We play to the last whistle,” Kadri said. “I think that’s been pretty evident thus far in the playoffs, and we never really think a game is over until it actually is over.”
Denis Gurianov, Blake Comeau and Jamie Benn scored for Dallas in the third period to retake the lead, 4-3.
“Pretty crazy,” Benn said. “Obviously being down two goals going into the third, you got to make a push, and I thought we had a great one. Back and forth, the ups and downs of the playoffs, we had them on the ropes. They’re a good team, they came back, scored a couple of quick ones, and that was that. I liked our push, but we need it for 60 minutes.”
Game 4 is set for Friday.
[WATCH: All Avalanche vs. Stars Game 3 highlights]
Anton Khudobin made 26 saves in the loss.
“Did they show me something after that? I would say yes,” Bednar said. “… Today, I could feel it on the bench we were still in the game, still playing, needing something good to happen, needing to get rewarded, and [MacKinnon] and [Rantanen] end up making a play (on the tying goal), kind of giving us life again, and we had a good strong finish to the game. So kudos to our guys for giving it a full 60 or more if that’s what it takes.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.