In Edmonton, Nathan MacKinnon pushed his point streak to 14 games with a goal and two points and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Dallas Stars,, 4-1, on Wednesday night.
The win forced a Game 7 between the clubs.
“You have to learn from what you did well every night and what you need to work on,” MacKinnon said. “We’re going to do that. We’re going to review this game, find some things we need to improve on, but also build on the positives things. … Hopefully we can move on to the third round.”
Michael Hutchinson made 27 saves in his second straight start to get the win.
“In terms of Game 7, it’s my third one,” MacKinnon said. “I guess I haven’t won one yet. Looking to change that in a couple days here. Excited for the challenge. It’s going to be the toughest game for us to win.”
Miro Heiskanen gave the Stars 1-0 lead in the first period.
“We all know what happened last year,” the Stars’ Tyler Seguin said. “We were in this position (up 3-2 against the St. Louis Blues in second round), a chance to win it in Game 6 on home ice. … Game 7 we lost last year. So we have a chance to redeem ourselves. I definitely do think as an organization we’ve been trending in the right way, and this is the next step. It’s going to be a big one for us in a couple of days.”
Nikita Zadoro scored for 32 seconds left in the first period to tie the game, 1-1.
“We needed to get more disciplined, a little more intelligent in our approach to the game, and I thought we did that tonight,” Avs head coach Jared Bednar said of his team, which took one minor penalty. “We didn’t have a great start, energy wasn’t great, I didn’t think for either team. … I thought our guys really showed up to accomplish taking this thing to a Game 7.”
Cale Makar put the Avs ahead, 2-1 in the middle frame.
“I’m not really too sure how or what cut it, but obviously he is a big loss,” Makar said. “We saw him out there at the end, so hopefully he can get back to 100 percent if he isn’t already and be ready for the next game.”
Mikko Rantanen also scored for the Avs.
“Their top players are producing and ours are not,” Stars head coach Rick Bowness said. “Don’t sugarcoat it. It is what it is. Your top players have to carry you this time of year. You put them in the position of ice time and best offensive positions you can, and they have to produce. That’s what it is.”
Game 7 is set for Friday.
[WATCH: All Avalanche vs. Stars highlights]
Anton Khudobin made 20 saves in the loss.
“We need more O-zone time, that’s the bottom line,” Dallas’ Alexander Radulov said. “We have to find a way. Game 7 coming up, won’t be easy, but we’ll be ready for it.”
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