The Dallas Stars are in the 2024 Western Conference Finals. On Friday, the Stars defeated the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 in double overtime. With the win, the Stars beat the Avalanche four games to two in the best out of seven series and will now face either the Vancouver Canucks or Edmonton Oilers in the third round. The Canucks lead the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference second round playoff series three games to two.
Who contributed to the Stars in game six?
After the Colorado Avalanche went up 1-0 on a second period goal by Mikko Rantanen of Nousiainen, Finland at 5:48 on the power-play, the Stars rebounded with a game-tying goal and a game-winning goal. The game-tying goal came by Canadian Olympic gold medalist Jamie Benn of Victoria, British Columbia. Benn, who scored a dramatic goal for Team Canada at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi (lone goal scored in the semi-final game, a 1-0 Canada win over the United States), scored from right winger Evgenii Dadonov of Chelyabinsk, Russia and Tyler Seguin of Brampton, Ontario at 1:56 of the the third period.
The Stars’s overtime hero was Canadian Olympic gold medalist Matt Duchene of Haliburton, Ontario. Like Benn, Duchene won a gold medal for Canada in men’s hockey at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. On Friday, Duchene scored his second goal of the postseason at 11:42 of the second overtime period from Joe Pavelski of Plover, Wisconsin. Duchene found himself open on the side of the net and buried a goal past Avalanche goaltender Alexandar Georgiev.
Third Career Playoff Overtime Winner
This was Duchene’s third Stanley Cup Playoff Overtime Winner. Ironically, the other two went into double overtime. The first came in a 3-2 Columbus Blue Jackets win over the Boston Bruins on April 27, 2019, and the second came in a 5-4 Nashville Predators win over the Carolina Panthers on May 21, 2021.
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