DENVER — Matt Duchene silenced thousands of his haters with the flick of a wrist.
The former Avalanche player drafted by Colorado to be their centerpiece, now playing center for the Dallas Stars, was the villain to the raucous crowd of 18,162 people at Ball Arena when his double-overtime goal ended his former team's season.
Duchene raced to center ice and dropped to his knees, celebrating the 2-1 victory in Game 6 of the second-round playoff series Friday that punched Dallas' ticket to the Western Conference Finals for the second consecutive year.
Colorado's season comes to a halt despite the 2022 Stanley Cup champions being favored to contend for another title in 2024.
"It sucks. It's a devastating result," defenseman Cale Makar said. "We all felt like we had the pieces to make a push for the whole thing. That's what makes it tougher. At the end of the day, only one team wins it and it's unfortunate it wasn't our year."
The Avalanche were aiming to force a winner-take-all Game 7 after staving off elimination in Game 5 on the road in Dallas. Colorado claimed the series opener in overtime but went on to lose three games in a row to put its season on life support.
"We fought hard. The effort was there the whole series," center Nathan MacKinnon said. "It's a tough team. We played two of the toughest teams right off the bat...just have to be better."
>>Video below: 'It breaks your heart.' Avalanche coach Jared Bednar talks about his team's season ending
Unlike every previous matchup this series, Colorado scored first Friday on a power-play goal from Mikko Rantanen after a high-sticking penalty by Duchene in the second period.
The Stars responded quickly into the third period when Jamie Benn found the back of the net on a breakaway.
Dallas appeared to have scored the winning goal in the first overtime, but it was called off for goaltender interference on Duchene.
"I felt we could have gone all the way," said goaltender Alexander Georgiev, who saved 36 of the 38 shots he faced in net. "Guys battled so hard. I appreciate that a lot. We'll be looking forward to the next one.
Colorado went 50-25-7 overall on the season.
Dallas will play the winner of the Vancouver Canucks vs. Edmonton Oilers series. Vancouver leads that conference semifinal 3-2. The Stars are looking to win their second Stanley Cup in franchise history, and first since the 1998-99 season.
"We had a team we believed we could win," Colorado defenseman Jack Johnson said. "It's hard to win the Cup. We know that having gone through it. That's why it's the hardest trophy (to win) in sports."
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