DALLAS — They’re not dead yet.
The Avalanche kept their slim chances of capturing another Stanley Cup alive Wednesday night, staving off elimination with a 5-3 win over the Dallas Stars.
It forces a Game 6 in their second-round NHL playoff series, which shifts back to Denver for the next matchup. It also snaps a three-game skid in the best-of-seven set.
Cale Makar played the hero here at the American Airlines Center by scoring two goals, including the game-winner.
“Obviously a do-or-die game from here on out in the series,” Makar said. “Each of us, we feed off each other. ... And I felt like we were back to kind of like forcing their hand tonight.”
Casey Mittelstadt's goal early in the third period gave the Avalanche their first lead of the series. Colorado hadn’t led Dallas up until that point – as its only previous win was a comeback victory in overtime of Game 1 before dropping three in a row.
Nathan MacKinnon secured the victory with a late goal of his own.
“We knew we were going to get their best game in the series, and they did,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “Their big guys all are on the scoresheet tonight, which we’ve probably anticipated would happen.”
Dallas continued its streak of striking first Wednesday, which it has done in every game of the series, when former Avalanche standout Matt Duchene set up Joe Pavelski for the first goal – the 39-year-old veteran’s only score this postseason.
The Avalanche appeared to be headed to the locker room facing a 1-0 deficit when Artturi Lehkonen beat the first-period buzzer with 0.6 seconds left on the clock before intermission.
The Stars also had goals from Miro Heiskanen and Logan Stankoven.
Puck drop for Game 6 is scheduled for 8 p.m. (MT) at Ball Arena.
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