Takeaways: Avalanche Win Wildly Entertaining Game 6 — And They Looked Good Doing It

DENVER — In the words of Russell Crowe — Are you not entertained?

With their backs against the wall at Ball Arena on Thursday, the Avalanche put 46 shots on Jake Oettinger, five of which went past him, and added a couple empty-net goals to defeat the Dallas Stars 7-4 in arguably one of the top three most entertaining playoff games in franchise history. It was that good.

The two Western Conference juggernauts are set for what should be an epic Game 7 on Saturday. Puck drop is scheduled for 6 pm MT.

The Avalanche are ready. Are you?

“Very excited,” Gabe Landeskog said.

The game-winning goal was credited to Nathan MacKinnon, his first five-on-five tally of the series. But Colorado’s superstar center had almost nothing to do with it. Stars forward Sam Steel, in an attempt to swat the puck away from the net mouth in front of Oettinger, shot it right up into teammate Colin Blackwell. It hit him and bounced right into the net to give the Avs a 5-4 lead.

Colorado led 2-0 at the first intermission before letting in four goals in the second period to fall behind 4-3. But the chances were still in their favor. It felt like a well-earned goal, on top of the two bounces in their favor in the first period, too.

Just the total opposite from Game 5 in Dallas.

The goals were coming from everywhere. Valeri Nichushkin had two, and Artturi Lehkonen, MacKinnon, and Martin Necas each had one. The empty-net tallies came from Josh Manson and Cale Makar.

Entering the third, the Avs, with their season on the line, needed one goal to tie the game to even have a fighting chance. They were outshooting Dallas 35-19 through 40 minutes but had a handful of bad plays that led to goals against. Mackenzie Blackwood only faced nine shots in the second and four of them went past him.

But that didn’t deter them from sticking to the gameplan. Colorado came out guns blazing for the third and eventually tied it up at the six-minute mark. The play once again came from the second line.

Brock Nelson, who also had two assists, dropped the puck back to Landeskog upon entering the Dallas zone. Landeskog drew a defenseman to him before firing it on goal. The rebound sprung out to Nichushkin, who quickly went skate to stick to tap it home.

“He has a skill set that not many players have,” Landeskog said of Nichushkin.

MacKinnon’s tally came just over three minutes later. And Blackwood shut the door the rest of the way.

They Showed Up

The guys the Avalanche needed to show up all did. Except, well, maybe they would’ve liked an extra save or two. But I’ll dive more into Blackwood tomorrow in my 10 Observations piece.

As for the skaters …

Makar had a goal and two assists, albeit his tally was on an empty net. Oettinger robbed him early in the second period on a play that could’ve made it 3-0. It was almost going to be the big turning point for Dallas if not for Colorado’s comeback.

Nelson had two assists. He still doesn’t have a goal in the series but boy has he looked better on that line with Landeskog and Nichushkin. It seems like a lot of goals lately have begun with a rush up the ice from the Avs’ No. 2 center.

Nichushkin had two goals. What more can be said? The Avalanche with Nichushkin in the lineup for a full series are a far more dangerous team.

Necas had a goal and an assist. And what a beautiful finish it was on his first tally of the series.

MacKinnon, who didn’t have a shot until Colorado’s 40th shot on goal, finished with a goal and two assists. Pretty fun how it played out. He was a non factor offensively before that own goal bounce from the Stars. Then he got two more assists for winning two faceoffs that led directly to the empty-net goals.

And who could forget the captain. Landeskog’s two assists in 19:36 of ice time and a +3 rating. That man is doing something unthinkable right now. For him to play this way after more than a thousand days off. It’s truly special.

The Moose Is Loose. Will It Matter?

It almost mattered tonight. Mikko Rantanen and linemate Roope Hintz made history in the second period when they both recorded four points in the same frame — the first set of teammate to do so in Stanley Cup Playoff history.

Rantanen had three helpers before scoring the go-ahead goal that made it 4-3. He almost ended the Avalanche’s season. And I shudder to imagine what an offseason of thinking about that would feel like for Chris MacFarland.

Through the first four games, Rantanen only had one assist. Dallas had seven goals in four games. But in the last two games, he’s got seven points alone. This is shaping up to be a storybook ending for one side of this entire saga. The Avalanche, or the superstar they traded away less than a hundred days ago.

Penalties? What Penalties?

There was a little bit of weirdness during Pete DeBoer’s postgame press conference where he kept referencing bad penalty calls. I’m guessing he was upset about the interference called against Mikeal Granlund late in the third period. Because other than that, the only other calls were a tripping minor on Nelson and a high stick against Thomas Harley. Both were pretty clear.

The refs didn’t call many penalties. And I bet it stays that way for Game 7 too.