Aarif Deen
DENVER — I’m not sure how these two clubs are going to manage to top the entertainment value of Game 6 when they meet again on Saturday.
Game 7, American Airlines Center, in Dallas, for all the marbles.
To get there, the Avalanche pulled out a gutsy third-period comeback to erase a deficit that should’ve and probably would’ve stunned most teams. They led 2-0 after the first but let four goals get past them in the second period. Trailing 4-3 entering the third, they needed one to force overtime.
But why score once and play OT again when you can just get two and end the game?
This was truly an epic game. Here’s how it unfolded from my point of view.
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10 Observations
1. The postgame commentary matched the entertaining on-ice product in this game. There were a lot of great insights. When Pete Deboer was speaking after Game 6, he mentioned that nobody had given them a chance heading into this series and now they’re heading home to host a Game 7.
When Jared Bednar heard about this from a fellow reporter, he cut him off to say, “What they finish? Third overall in the league?”
Bednar went on to answer the question eloquently as he so often does. But he was taken aback by the narrative DeBoer has created for his team. Especially as the team with home-ice advantage. And yes, the Avs coach referenced that Dallas is playing without Miro Heiskanen and Jason Robertson. He didn’t forget about that part.
2. Another postgame snippet … We got Cale Makar and Martin Necas at the podium tonight after a handful of scrums in the locker room. I asked the two of them, together, to explain what kind of communication, if any, happens on a play like that, where Makar is feeding Necas back door for a beautiful goal.
Makar looked confused before turning to Necas and saying, “Which goal?” It took him a second to remember before he could even answer the question.
Basically, Makar had zero idea which goal I was talking about. That’s how many goals were scored in this game. The guy made one of the more spectacular passes I’ve seen in a long time to catch Necas sneaking in back door and needed a second to remember it.
Greatness, man.
3. The postgame availability changes a little bit in the playoffs. First, both locker rooms are opened at the same time. You can choose which room you’d like to go to. After that, the visiting head coach speaks to all media at the podium in a press conference setting, followed by the home team coach. Then, to conclude, two notable players from the winning team come to the podium. Which, again, was Makar and Necas.
4. There was a point during the second intermission where it had hit me that if the Avs don’t score a goal in the third period, we’re likely going to have our very last press conference of the season with Mikko Rantanen sitting at the podium playing for another team and talking about how he scored the goal that ended Colorado’s season.
The same Rantanen who had three hat tricks in the first half of the season for Colorado. The same Rantanen who was never supposed to leave.
For that to all shift so quickly, and for Necas to be one of the players sitting at the podium instead, was fitting.
5. Rantanen is a man on a mission. We can’t deny that. He’s found chemistry with Roope Hintz and it’s something we’re going to need to familiarize ourselves with over the next eight years. The ending to this 2025 story has yet to be written. There’s a chance that Rantanen is still the guy to end Colorado’s season.
But there’s also a chance that he’s sent home, and his whirlwind season comes to an end after a Game 7 loss to the team he grew up with — and a core group that had never won a Game 7 with him.
6. Nathan MacKinnon, the fan, thought that was a sick game. That much I can tell you.
7. Credit to Valeri Nichushkin for the high IQ play on the game-tying goal. Actually, credit to that entire line. Nelson’s drop pass to Landeskog gave the captain the room he needed to draw a defenseman in before firing it straight into Jake Oettinger’s pad.
But Nichushkin, on the rebound, had a split second to settle the bouncing puck in his shins. He managed to get it from shin to stick fast enough to tap it home and knot things up at 4-4. That was a great play all around.
8. I loved Bednar postgame talking about how he’s going to work on getting guys like Nichushkin to replicate the performances they’ve had at home to American Airlines Center for Game 7. If they do, it’s Colorado’s game to lose.
9. There’s something to be said about consistency. I’ve read the comments on here and we’ve all watched the games. Sometimes the Avs look like this team, and other nights they look beatable, worn down, and frustrating. If they play the game they executed tonight, there’s still one thing that could beat them: The goalie at the other end.
Seriously.
When Nichushkin tied it up, I turned to the reporter sitting next to me in the pressbox and pointed out how a slightly better game from Mackenzie Blackwood, and a slightly worse game from Oettinger, could’ve led to a 6-3 score instead of 4-4 at that current moment.
The margins are so slim. Colorado needs to attack Oettinger early and often in Game 7.
10. The Avs, as a franchise, have lost six consecutive Game 7s dating back to the second round in 2002. Bednar, as a coach, is 0-3 in these games. Colorado lost in Game 7 to DeBoer’s Sharks in 2019, Rick Bowness’ Dallas Stars in 2020, and the Seattle Kraken in 2023.
At the other end, DeBoer is 8-0 in these games, which includes a Game 7 first-round victory against the Vegas Golden Knights last year. This all sounds scary. But does it matter?
Not even a little bit.
None of it matters. Both coaches know it; both teams know it. Truly, they’re not at all worried about these stats. The best series in the first round is going to a winner take all Game 7 on Saturday. And it’s going to be one hell of a ending.
It’s time for the Avalanche to shift the narrative. They can win a Game 7.