Stars Hold Off Avalanche; Even Series At 1-1
The Dallas Stars hosted the Colorado Avalanche in a fiercely competitive Game Two of the Western Conference Semifinals. The Stars, determined to tie the series at one win apiece, faced off against the Avalanche, who were looking to take the first two games on the road. This high-stakes game, with huge implications on both sides, lived up to the hype. Ultimately, the Stars were able to defend home ice and tie the series with a 5-3 win.
The first period was extremely even and hard-fought. The shots on goal were even at nine for each team. However, the Stars got the home crowd involved early with a powerplay goal by defenseman Miro Heiskanen to give Dallas the 1-0 lead. With both goaltenders on their game early, that was all the scoring to be had in the first twenty minutes.
The second frame was where the Stars broke through. Roope Hintz scored his second goal of the playoffs just two minutes into the period to double the Stars’ lead from 1-0 to 2-0. Dallas continued that momentum throughout the period by dominating Colorado in shots on goal and time of possession. Then, to make matters worse for the Avalanche, defenseman Sean Walker was nabbed for a slashing penalty, and that quickly turned into Miro Heiskanen’s second power-play goal of the game to make it a 3-0 game. A little over a minute later, Roope Hintz got a penalty to put the Avalanche on the powerplay. This did not give the Avalanche any momentum; in fact, it did the opposite. The Stars got out on a short-handed three-on-one, which ended up with Tyler Seguin ripping a rebound shot past Alexander Georgiev, and just like that, it was 4-0 Stars at the end of the second period. The Avalanche had a Colorado-sized mountain to climb in the third.
At the start of the third period, the Avalanche got right to work on climbing that mountain. Joel Kiviranta got Colorado on the board with a goal just over four minutes into the period, giving the Avalanche some life. Colorado kept that momentum and cut into the deficit again with a Brandon Duhaime goal just under four minutes later. In only eight minutes, the Dallas lead was now 4-2. The Stars were able to keep their lead at two goals for the majority of the period despite a flurry of shots from the Avalanche, who were constantly on the attack. Finally, the Avalanche's persistence paid off as Valeri Nichushkin netted his ninth goal of the playoffs with just under four minutes to go in the game to stun the Dallas home crowd. The lead was all the way down to just one goal. As if it did not already feel like an avalanche was coming down on the Stars, both literally and figuratively, Wyatt Johnston was called for a high sticking penalty with three minutes left in the game. The Avalanche then pulled Georgiev to make it a six-on-four advantage. However, Jake Oettinger stood tall for the Stars in the final three minutes as Colorado fired shots at him from all directions. He eventually held on long enough for the Stars to gain possession. Esa Lindell buried the empty net goal to put an official end to the Avalanche's comeback.
This crucial Game Two win by the Stars sets this series up with the potential to be an instant classic. The critical Game Three will take place on Saturday as the series shifts to Colorado for Games Three and Four.
